Chasing a Shadow
by blink19
Summary: Somethings wrong, and Harry's friends know it. Days after Voldemort's death, Harry took flight and disappeared from the face of the Earth. Something, someone, had prompted him to leave, and years later, they would soon find out why.. HHrR?G?
1. Flight

**NOTES: Rated M for violence, blood/gore, and maybe some minor sexual parts. Language too! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

_Blink_

**Story Description: **Voldemort is dead, the Death Eaters disbanded. Harry struck the final blow, but it was his friends that helped him. Harry disappears, Hermione and Ron are stunned. Ron moves on, but Hermione can't shake the fact that there seems to be something wrong. They are both good aurors and soon they are assigned to a case that is connected to a secret group and someone who is determined to dominate the world, just like Voldemort. This new enemy is good, very good. So good in fact, that Harry left because of him. But the golden boy will return, when the world needs him the most...

**STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter story, JK Rowling does. I am merely another author who wishes to write a story based on her stories. I own my made-up characters, places, descriptions, spells, items, and anything else you don't recognize from the original books. The characters in this story are fictional and are used fictitiously by the auther (moi).**

* * *

**Chasing a Shadow**

**Flight**

* * *

_No. 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey...fourty minutes outside ofLondon  
Two days after Voldemort's downfall..._

The Dursleys were sleeping well, Vernon's snores echoing throughout the house and accompanied by his son's own, far lighter, snore. The night was black outside as a new moon began to wax itself. A slight breeze blew and ruffled the leaves of the trees along the street.

The street was bright with light pouring out from the street lamps. Moths and other flying insects whirred around and landed on the lamps, taking warmth from the heat generated by the light.

A light snuffed out, at the far end of Privet Drive. Then another, and another, and the lamps kept going out as if they were candles and someone were blowing them out. Without the lights, the entire street was pitch black, and if one tried to look outside, nothing was visible.

The door to No. 4 exploded inward with a crash as figures rushed into the house. Dark, hooded, silent, they ascended the stairs as some of the other figures checked the rest of the house.

Vernon was awake, his eyes on his bedroom door. He reached for the sidetable and took out a gun. It was a Colt. It was new, but it didn't shine in the dark. He fumbled with his pudgy hands to load it and he slapped the .357 Magnum rounds into the revolver and pulled back the hammer. It was ready to shoot.

He moved his index finger to the trigger and aimed for the door. He heard the creak of the eight step and tensed, sweat creasing his brow.

He stared at the wooden door, imagined who would be behind it and what he would do, and waited. His finger never leaving the trigger as it tensed, ready to pull on it. He had never before fired a gun, but now was a good time to learn how it felt like.

He started shaking slightly, in fear. HIs eyes were wide, trying to see if the door was opening or not. Damn the darkness, he thought, as he heard some more sounds. Suddenly, there was a loud bang and his son screamed for a few seconds before falling silent.

Vernon was visibly shaking now, his imagination running wild as he thought of what happened. Tears obscured what little sight he had and he tried to brush them away. Who were these people? Why were they here?

Ten seconds. Twenty. He counted in his mind as he slowly regained control.

His wife snored softly in her sleep and turned over. She would wake up when he fired, that was for sure. He hoped to whatever diety was out there that he and his family would be safe.

The door flew open in an instant and he didn't even hesitate as his finger pulled back and his arm tensed.

BANG!

The magnum round tore through the air and into one of the assailants. He yelped in and fell to the ground in a heap.

BANG!

Vernon fired again, hitting another guy, but not succeeding in making him fall. He fired again, but this time the gun flew out of his hands and broke through the window. His ears were ringing and they hurt like hell. He felt pain in his fingers, hands and arms. He wasn't strong, but having never fired a gun, he didn't know how hard he had to grip the gun either. It kicked hard and nearly hit him in the head on the first shot.

His ears were still ringing and hurt a lot, but then that was when he noticed that it was because his wife was screaming.

She was flailing, eyes wide, and her mouth even wider. A red light shone and something seemed to hit her because she flew into the headboard and fell silent.

He was lucky, whoever these attackers were they were stunned for a bit as they processed this new information. The figure on the floor didn't move, but the one he shot in the shoulder stepped into the room.

The figure was breathing hard, clutching with its right hand onto the shoulder where the shot hit. The other hand held something and it was pointed at him. That was when he knew that these were..._freaks. _The bad ones, that is.

He paled and turned multiple shades of green. His mouth agape, he tried to formulate words. "W...W-why...? Who...?" he barely managed to say.

For some reason, even in the dark, he saw the figure smirk, before a red light hit him as well and all turned even darker than the night outside.

* * *

_The Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole  
That same night..._

Hermione sat in the living room of the Burrow. It was slightly different in the house, after the war everyone seemed a little...off. She thought she felt a little off as well, but no one was nearly as 'off' as Harry. He was, extremely different.

During the last two days with him, he was more silent, less open it seemed. He left to go walk outside and she was waiting for him.

She tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear and watched as the magical clock signalled that the Weasleys had come home. After the final battle, they had offered to house the other two of the Golden Trio for a little, as they cooled off and got ready to face the rest of the world and return to normal. Of course, nothing was going to ever be really normal anymore.

Ron entered the living room and fell into one of the seats adjacent to the sofa where Hermione sat.

Ginny followed a few seconds after, and sat next to Hermione. She smiled at her in greeting and then closed her eyes and rested her head onto Hermione's shoulder. They had gotten closer over the past few years, and they seemed like sisters now.

Ron closed his eyes too, he felt tired, along with everyone else. He was different, like everyone else too. He was taller, a little over six feet maybe. Histhick red hair was eventhicker and was longer too. Long enough that it touched his eyebrows and flowed over his ears.

His freckles seemed to have multiplied and he had a couple of scars on his skin as well. He was more filled out, with muscle that is. No more was he a lazy fat slob who ate a lot. Well...he still ate a lot, but he wasn't really that lazy anymore and he wasn't fat anymore either.

Ginny was different as well, she was taller too. She stood at about a respectable five-and-half-feet tall and she was very pretty now.It was a good thing that the war was going on or else boys would have been hounding after her like crazy. Heck, even Draco seemed to have an interest in her, before he left to join his father that is.

Her long flowing red hair framed her face perfectly and her bright brown eyes were filled with energy. Though she had lost some of her innocence during the war, she had to hurt or kill people after all, she was still the little girl that they all cared for.

Her thoughts turned to Harry this time, and she pictured him in his mind. Strong, tall, powerful, frighteningly powerful in fact. It was no wonder he was the one destined to fight Voldemort and it was no wonder that he could kill him too. He was muscular and was an inch shy of six feet. His raven black hair was still as unruly as ever and his emerald green eyes were bright and happy, but that last only a few hours.

He seemed so...changed. So different, or maybe it was because everything else had changed and Hermione had not really tried to see these changes. His eyes turned cold and he showed little or no outward emotion. He rarely spoke and when he did, it was quick and straight to the point.

Molly Weasley and Arthur Weasley quickly swept into the living room accompanied by the twins. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were by far some of the ones who changedthe most.

They had more lines on their faces and they seemed to have aged a few more years than they really were. Stress and the war had tried and tested them and they barely came out alive. They had huge bags under their eyes and their hair had intermittent streaks of gray. Though she knew that since the war was over, they would slowly return to their normal appearance, it would take time.

The twins barely grew an inch and were shorter than Harry and Ron by about three inches or so. They were only a few inches taller than Hermione and Ginny as well. They were not as changed as the others and still smiled and joked a lot, though considerably less than before.

Pranks were rare, but it was too early to tell if they were going to return to that habit. Hermione smiled a little, they probably were going to return to that habit.

They all sat in silence, Mrs. Weasley sat next to Ginny and watched as herhusband stood and observed the room that he had passed millions of times. Things were going to change, the Ministry had given him a hefty sum in reward for their services during the war and the house was going to change.

He was going to miss the old look, but he knew that it brought too many memories. After all, Percy...

"Where's Harry?" George asked no one in particular.

"Dunno..." Ron mumbled, his eyes still closed.

"He went out for a walk," Hermione replied.

"Oh," George said as he nodded his head.

They stayed like that for about an hour, until Mrs. Weasley stood and announced that she was going to prepare supper. Mr. Weasley offered to help and Ginny did too. The twins went upstairs, leaving Ron and Hermione alone in the room.

"Hey, Ron! Wake up!" she said, about half an hour later. The smell of food filtered in from the kitchen and he started sniffing.

"Dinner!" he asked a little groggily, but he was waking up, fast.

She smiled, nothing but good food to wake up the boy who sleeps like a rock.

"I think we should go out and bring Harry back in.." she suggested.

"Huh? Go where?"

"Out to get Harry"

"Oh, sure. Where is he anyway?" he said as he stood and stretched. He nearly touched the ceiling as he stretched.

They left the Burrow and walked in silence, the cold night air making them a little chilly.

"You know where he is?" Ron asked, slightly grumpy since he thought he was waking up to dinner.

"Uhh...no. But we can find him and before you say that he can go back on his own and that he can take care of himself, you should know what happened to him. Something did, and it changed him. You saw how he was after a few hours, he was different," she answered, "Besides, he wouldn't stay out here for too long. I mean, it _is_ pretty dark and he should know that we are about to eat dinner."

Ron grunted, she was right, and he knew it. Harry was different, he had seen it in the way he acted with them, the way he walked, stood, sat, and slept too. They still shared his room.

He did smile a bit as a bright light shone in his mind. They were going to have the Burrow renovated, and it was going to change. There would be room for all of them, in seperate rooms too, and there would be a helluva lot more space than before.

After what seemed like an hour or so, the Burrow was merely a speck in the horizon, and they still kept walking. No sign of Harry anywhere.

"Harry!" Hermione said, her voice carrying in the silence.

"Uh, 'Mione, I think we should go back now. He might have gone another way, and he might be there now."

"How many times did I tell you _NOT_ to call me _'Mione_! How many times?" she yelled angrily as she did an about face and stalked off.

Ron sighed and scratched his head as he walked after her. Some things would never change.

They returned to the burrow, their throats a little sore from calling out Harry's name. They walked into the kitchen and asked if Harry had returned.

"What do you mean, _is he back yet_?You haven't found him?" Molly reprimanded a little, worry in her tone.

"No, mum.." Ron said.

"Arthur! Arthur!" she called urgently.

"Yes, dear!" her husband replied, running into the kitchen and looking at his wife.

"It's happened. Oh dear, it's happened. Call the Ministry, inform McGonagall. We have to look for him before it's too late..." Molly told him, making motions with her hands.

"What's happened? Tell us, what has happened! What is _it_?" Hermione asked. Ron said the same thing.

Both adults looked at the children and shook their heads, "Not yet, later," was the reply as they rushed off to go somewhere, dinner sizzling in the kitchen.

* * *

_Somewhere in Britain..._

Dobby was confused. It all happened quickly. Harry Potter had come for him, as he had promised, and had hired him as his house elf. Dobby thought he was going to go to Grimmauld Place, but there was another place, somewhere he had never been to before.

His new master, who would rather that he be called friend, had quickly introduced him to the two other house elves in the mansion and the personal bodyguard that had protected his parents all those years ago. He was not there when they went into hiding, they did not want him to be caught up in their mess and so left him at the mansion.

His name was Bruce, and he was a former agent of some muggle government agency Dobby didn't know about. Then after the introductions and after dinner, Harry left, but before doing so he had given Dobby a very strange order.

Dobby unfolded the parchment in his hands and read it again.

_Dobby,_

_I am leaving. I cannot tell you where I am going or what I am doing, but just know that I will not be there for a few years. Keep the mansion clean and safe, strengthen the wards and the security as well. I leave you now with a small portion of funds that total to about five million galleons to take care of the estate and to buy yourself other things._

_I am also giving you this money because I want you to do something for me. I want you to buy a few things and also I want you to keep tabs on everything happening in the Wizarding world. Make a list, write journals, do whatever. I just want you to make sure that upon my return I can catch up on everything that has happened over my absence, for I will not be able to do so. I will send you a letter with more instructions, but until then, take care Dobby._

_Your friend,  
Harry_

He shook his head, a little confused. He was still surprised by theamount of money left to him as well. A tear fell onto the parchment as he read the last two lines. He still insisted on being his friend, not his master.

Well, he had a job to do and he had his master's...friend's orders. He would not let him down. No sir, Dobby would excel and would do more than Harry Potter thought he would do. He would make sure of that. He gripped the parchment and popped over to the elf's quarters to break the news.

* * *

_The Burrow  
Morning of the next day..._

The search was still on, but they all knew Harry was gone. He had disappeared from the face of the Earth. They had even approached the goblins in hopes that they would inform them of any transactions made by Harry so that they could find him, but they were turned down and shooed out.

Apparently, they were keeping Harry's actions and wherabouts secret, not just because they held client information private, but also because he had told them so and they were his allies, friends even. Not that anyone else knew about that, so they thought that it was just the goblins' great secrecy of their good clients' dealings.

They all looked at each other confusion, worry, sadness, and a little anger in their expressions. Why did he leave? Where was he going? Was he safe? When will he return? What was he going to do? Questions like these filled their heads as they tried to answer the questions themselves.

Harry had gone, and they had no idea why. Hermione though, was intent on finding out, and the first step was to ask the Weasley adults, who seemed to be hiding something. Something vital to uncovering Harry's sudden flight.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Hope you like this:) 


	2. Safehouse

**NOTES: Rated M for violence, blood/gore, and maybe some minor sexual parts. Language too! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

_Blink_

**Story Description: **Voldemort is dead, the Death Eaters disbanded. Harry struck the final blow, but it was his friends that helped him. Harry disappears, Hermione and Ron are stunned. Ron moves on, but Hermione can't shake the fact that there seems to be something wrong. They are both good aurors and soon they are assigned to a case that is connected to a secret group and someone who is determined to dominate the world, just like Voldemort. This new enemy is good, very good. So good in fact, that Harry left because of him. But the golden boy will return, when the world needs him the most...

**STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter story, JK Rowling does. I am merely another author who wishes to write a story based on her stories. I own my made-up characters, places, descriptions, spells, items, and anything else you don't recognize from the original books. The characters in this story are fictional and are used fictitiously by the auther (moi).**

* * *

**Chasing a Shadow**

**Safehouse**

**

* * *

**

_Ministry of Magic, London  
Six years and three months since the day Harry left...  
7:30am_

The Ministry was silent and only a few people were working at this hour. The regular work schedule started at eight in the morning and only those who were really into their jobs came earlier than that. The Ministry was renovated and was far better than before.

The walls were repaired and they had changed the layout of some levels, which made it easier to defend. A new level was built for a new upcoming Ministry agency. Only a few people knew about it because it was supposed to be kept a secret from everyone else, no one was supposed to know.

Hermione was one of the ones who knew, and she was also one of the people who was into her work. She had been there since about seven-fifteen in the morning.

She rubbed her eyes a bit as she sipped a coffee she had gotten from the Starbucks a block away. She loved Starbucks and got coffee there every day. It was like a heavenly drink and it helped to keep her awake during the early morning hours.

She shared the office with Ron, since they were partners, and worked with him on every case. Though she did a lot more work than he did, he was still very helpful and was usually the one to go chasing after the criminals and dueling with them. That didn't mean she didn't have her fair share of fighting.

Her side of the office was immaculately clean. According to Ron, it was _too_ clean. She looked over at Ron's side of the office and shook her head, it was far messier than hers.

Stacks of papers were pushed off to one side of his desk, folders were strewn about across the desk and his mug of pencils, pens, quills, and whatnot had been tipped over and had spilled its contents across the desk. Thankfully, his quill ink wasn't kept there and the folders remained clean.

Two of the drawers of his desk were slightly open and there were more papers and other things there. Hermione wouldn't be surprised if some creature was already breeding somewhere in Ron's part of the room.

He had a file cabinet which was magically enchanced to be two times more spacious inside. Still, even with all that space, he couldn't keep it organized. A few files were in the wrong places and there were some files that were just stuffed into the cabinet, which made it look really messy.

She sighed, he would probably beg her to help him clean up soon. The Auror Inspector was coming the following week and he wouldn't want to get busted down or written up for being disorganized and irresponsible.

Her own desk was neat and everything was orderly. Her coffee cup rested in the middle of the desk, next tothe file of the latest case they had busted. She also had her own mug of pens, pencils, and quills which was neatly arranged and was placed next to two photoframes. She looked at the photographs and smiled.

The first one was of Harry, her, and Ron in the Gryffindor common room. The photo-clones of her, Ron, and Harry were waving back at her and smiling back too. Harry ruffled Ron's hair and got a light punch in return as her photo-clone laughed and waved at her again.

The second photo was that of all the members of the former Dumbledore's Army. They were all smiling and waving as well. She sighed, a few of the ones in the photo were dead, and they didn't know it.

Whenever she looked at the photos, everyone was always happy, and she always wondered why it couldn't be like that in real life.

She flicked her wrist and her wand instantly appeared in her hand. A benefit of being an Auror is that you get all the latest magic gadgets and accessories, and she had gotten a pretty good wand holster which was strapped to her wrist.

She moved it over the file and made a little movement, and soon the file closed and, as if a stamp had landed on it, there was perfect red lettering that read: "CASE SOLVED".

She returned her wand with another flick and opened the file cabinet to place the case file inside. That was when the door opened and her faithful partner strode into the room quite sleepily, a Starbucks cup in his hand. Probably a Capuccino or something.

She smiled and greeted him. "Yeah, good morning to you too..." he replied not too enthusiastically.

He slumped down onto his chair and placed his stuff on the floor, except for his coffee of course, which he put on his overflowing desk. He shoved some files around and actually made a pile of them. This opened up some space for his briefcase and his coffee.

He took a sip and licked his lips, nothing beats good coffee in the morning. He closed his eyes and leaned back on his chair, making it recline.

It was shaping up to be another regular work day for them.

* * *

_Vienna, Austria  
Dubrovnik restuarant  
12:24pm_

Dubrovnikwas located just opposite Vienna's central Stadtpark and just down the road from Austria's national mint,it is one of Vienna's oldestand most highly regarded Croatian restaurants.

The restaurant was very large and comfortable, the tables were far enough apart that it didn't feel like you were being packed in like a sardine. The ceiling was high and made the restaurant look even bigger and the service and food was excellent. With more than two million inhabitants of the bustling city, it was no wonder the restaurant was packed. It was just a matter of luck that the alcove was open, even luckier was the fact that it was in the farthest corner of the restaurant and it made it easier to talk without fear of someone overhearing them.

Fritz Engelbert sat in a leather alcove in a corner of the restaurant. He sat there, waiting, his hands together and his elbows propped up on the table. A waiter arrived and set down a beer.Fritz thanked him and when the waiter asked if he was ready to order, he told him to come back when his friend arrived. They would order together.

The waiter left and Fritz was left all alone again, his muscles ached slightly from the run he took early that morning. It was about a five mile run, nothing too serious. He had shaved his head, which made him look very formidable. He stood at about six foot five and weighed, the last time he had checked, a decent two-hundred and twenty-eight pounds, most of it muscle.

He had black hair, which, if it was long enough to be seen, didn't really mark him instantly as a German, though he was one. Many people had often misjudged what his nationality was, but he didn't really mind. After all, the blood in that part of Europe was pretty mixed and there was a lot of German blood running in the other countries surrounding it. Especially here in Austria.

He waited, his large frame still in the alcove. He sipped some of his beer. He looked at his watch, twelve fourty. He was late.

As if reading his thoughts, a man came in, the one he had been waiting for. At least he hadn't backed out of the deal.

The man was short, a mere five feet four inches, and when he took of his pretty expensive looking hat, he was getting bald, with gray and white hair mixed at the sides and back of his head. He wore an expensive suit with a nice blue tie that made him look like who he was, a rich man. Two men came in after him, both wore sunglasses and didn't take them off, even in the comfortably lit restaurant.

Fritzhad checked them out, and they appeared to be former KGB agents. Russians, how he hated them. They had come to his fatherland and destroyed and killed many! He smiled though, they were not going to be a problem later on. After all, he could take them out quite easily. These 'bodyguards' of his were fat and had lost much of their former strength.

They were not to be taken lightly though, they still had good instincts and were still quite smart. Such is the training of the KGB.

The short man scanned the restaurant and spotted Fritz. He immediately walked over and smiled in greeting. Fritz nodded.

The two ex-KGB agents split up. One stayed near the front door and Fritz guessed that there were others at the back. This man spent thousands if not millionsof Euros on security, and he was also in constant fear of death. He loved life, and spending money to preserve it didn't bother him the slightest.

He sat down across from Fritz as the other ex-KGB man stood a few feet away, his sunglasses covering his eyes. Fritz knew that he was being checked out from the corner of his eye, he felt the man's eyes on him even from behind the sunglasses.

The short man didn't even look at the menu as the waiter came to take their orders.

"The fish is good, here. I recommend it," he said in fluent German, his voice surprisingly low for such a small frame.

Fritz shook his head, "I am allergic to most seafood."

"Ah, a pity. Well, what would you like then? I shall pay..." he replied, thinking that Fritz thought that he was going to pay the bill. It was expensive here after all.

"I shall just have some more beer, if you don't mind."

"Very well."

The waiter wrote down the man's orders and left for the kitchens. Fritz looked at the old man that set across from him. There were a few crease lines on his face, which showed that he was spending a lot of money on making himself look younger than he really was. After all, you don't really look that good at sixty unless you are rich enough to make yourself look that good.

He had dark green eyes that seemed black in the relative darkness of the restaurant. From the file he had on him, Fritz knew the man was dying, and that was why he had contacted Fritz' master. They had made a deal, and so he was to discuss it with the man.

They sat in silence, each sizing the other up. When the food came, they finally broke the silence.

"You know why I have come. My master told me the details and I am here now to represent him," Fritz began.

The old man smiled and nodded as he swallowed some of the fish and vegetables. Straight to business these men. No time for a little chat.

"You know the details? Yes?" he asked Fritz, drinking some water.

Fritz nodded. The old man was contracted by his master to use his vast funds to do certain things. Buy weapons, men, materials, and other things. He wondered what his master needed use of them for, but it was better not to question.

"Good, that saves some breath from explaining. He motioned to the bodyguard that stood just a few feet away, and that was when Fritz noticed he had a suitcase handcuffed to his wrist. It was hidded very carefully, but he had spotted the brief exposure of the metal as the bodyguard turned and walked towards them.

He placed the briefcase on the table and took the handcuffs off. He gave it to Fritz, who accepted it and placed it beside him.

"That, is a small part of what I am capable of doing for your master. Tell him that there will be more once he starts to give me some of the things I have asked for in exchange," he informed Fritz, who nodded.

That would mean another trip back here to the old man, another few nights in Austria. That would be good, a little rest for him was always good, for his master was always moving him around, always sending him to do things.

Well, he would get his reward soon enough, if he got this deal through, he was going to be in the inner circle of his master and he would soon be given even greater responsibilites. He was looking forward to that.

They talked a few more times about the deal, but it was evident that the bald man was reluctant to give information out, even in such a public and inconspicuous place. After all, there were many listening devices that could hone in on their location and voiceprints and the old man didn't want to risk that. He was, after all, a lover of life. His life, to be exact.

Fritz stood, briefcase in hand, and shook hands with the old man. It was all an act though, they had to make it look legitimate and so they planned on making it look like a business deal. Well, it _was_ kind of a business deal of sorts.

He left the restaurant, passing by ex-KGB number two in the process and making the Russian turn and look at him. Evidently, they knew he was German, and they shared the same feelings that he harbored for them. How he hated Russians.

* * *

_Ministry of Magic, London  
1:46pm_

Hermione sat at her desk as she skimmed through the Daily Prophet. Nothing interesting was on the news. She always looked through it, just in case there was an article about Harry...or someone that looked like him anyway. Hermione still hadn't given up hope on finding him. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had not helped at all, they said they were sworn to secrecy, a wizard's oath even!

Whatever it was, requiring those with knowledge to have a wizard's oath to keep it secret meant it was really important. Maybe Voldemort wasn't dead?

No, that wasn't possible. She had seen the old fart die herself. She looked up as Ron came in again, a smile on his face. He must have seen her questioning look because he spoke, "I just asked Emily Aldridge out and she said yes!"

"Oh," Hermione said, slightly surprised.

Emily Aldridge was about a year older than both of them. She was a little taller than Hermione and, she had to admit, was very attractive. She had flowing brown hair and bright steel-gray eyes that made her a force of a woman. She was somewhat of a snob and used her looks to get what she wanted. Hermione understood her, but that didn't mean she had to like her.

"Oh? OH? It's more than _oh._ It's something like...OH YEAH!" he exclaimed, positively excited. He smiled and sat down, picked up his quill, and began to write up some paperwork.

Hermione shook her head and smiled at the enthusiasm of her friend, he was, after all, a guy, and so he was entitled to acting like that.

At about two o'clock, someone knocked on the door. "Come in!" Ron said, beating Hermione to it.

The door opened and in came one of the rareblack Aurors in the Ministry, Shaklebolt Kingsley. Hermione heard that, overseas, there werea lot more black wizards in the employ of foreign governments, but for some reason the Ministry of Magic, under that git of a man, Cornelius Fudge, had selected only a few to join the Ministry in official work.

Maybe another organization was in order to help them, but then again, it wasn't an affair she would like to meddle in. She had heard that they were going to start rallying and protesting that problem to the magical community. It was going to be hard though, they were a minority in Britain, accounting for onlytwo percentof the population.

"Kingsley! What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, as Ron smiled and shook hands with the senior Auror.

"Why, can't I visit some of my good friends in their office?" he asked in return.

Hermione shook her head as he smiled, "Well, I was just informed that I was to bring you to guard duty out near Colchester. We have a safehouse there and every Auror rotates to take a one week shift. It just so happens you were chosen."

"That sounds...exciting," Hermione said, though she was clearly not excited.

Ron didn't seem all too hot about it either.

"Don't you worry. I'll be there and I'll try to make it fun for you two. One week will pass by soon enough and you will probably forget about it happening."

"I hope so.." Ron groaned. He hated guard duty, they had both heard about the random assigning, but they never thought they would be picked.

"You are to report to my office at seventeen hundred hours. Understood?" he said, seriously this time.

"Yes, sir," they both replied.

Kingsley turned and left the office, closing the door behind him quietly. Ron looked at Hermione with a pained expression and she understood what he felt, she didn't like it either. Well, they didn't have a choice in the matter, so they had to get ready. They both got their stuff together and left for their respective homes.

* * *

_Ministry of Magic, London  
5:00pm - Auror Detective Kingsley's Office_

"Reporting as ordered, sir," Hermione announced curtly as they entered the room. They dropped their duffel bags on the floor and stood, waiting to be acknowledged.

"Alrighty then, ready to go? Good! We leave, now," he said and stood. He also had a duffel bag with him and he picked it up from behind his desk and moved around it. He walked past them and out of the office. They followed soon enough.

He was talking as they walked through the halls of the Ministry. "Apparating to the safehouse is out of the question. Powerful anti-apparition wards have been erected and if you even tried to get in, you would fry. Also, if you somehow broke through, more than ten Aurors will be on your neck with orders tofight firstand ask questions later. We will be portkeying to a set area of the grounds where there is a hole for Ministry portkeys."

Hermione and Ron nodded, he seemed to make it sound so exciting, but they both knew it wasn't going to be a heart-pumping experience. They looked at each other and shook their heads as they trailed behind the tall black Auror.

"You will always have your wands at the ready, you will always be alert, there is no slacking during guard duty. If I catch you sleeping, you will be punished accoridngly," he continued. Ron looked at Hermione with a frown, that was going to be a problem for him. If the job was so boring, how could he _not_ fall asleep?

"There will be seven other Aurors at the site, you will get to know them well enough that in an event of a battle, you will be able to fight and coordinate well. There is always someone in the safehouse that we are protecting, whether it be an informer or a double-agent or any other person who the Ministry deems valuable enough to defend."

They finally stopped and found themselves in front of a large door with a sign next to it. It read _Portroom #13_.

They stepped into the room and found an old toothbrush that lay on a small round stone table in the middle of the room. Four Aurors stood guard in each corner of the room and one of them raised her hand in greeting.

She was a Junior-Grade Auror, according to Kingsley, who smiled as she got closer. She was fairly tall, no taller than Ginny in fact. She had long black hair and she seemed to be either Japanese or Korean, Hermione wasn't sure.

"The portkey is ready, Detective. You are cleared to go in two minutes," she informed him.

"Thank you, Alicia," the low voice of Kingsley replied. He stepped over to the toothbrush and beckoned for them to stand next to it as well.

They waited a little before Alicia gave the thumbs up.

"All right, touch the toothbrush and get ready," Kingsley spoke.

They touched the portkey and suddenly the room began to spin and they seemed to lift into the air. In a matter of minutes, they landed on the ground, a little too hard for their tastes, but on their feet nonetheless.

They stood and brushed off some of the dirt that had gotten on their robes and looked at each other as the foul smell of rotting flesh and smoke filled their lungs. Wands were whipped out as they rounded the bend and found the safehouse in flames. Three figures were lying on their backs at the gate of the safehouse, they were dead. The gate itself was blown inward, the hinges broken off.

Kingsley cursed, and ran towards the safehouse, wand at the ready. Hermione and Ron took a moment to take in the situation before following in the man's footsteps.

Inside the compound, fighting could be heard from the burning building. It was a three story house that was fairly large. Another Auror lay a mere two feet from the front door, dead. His wand was nowhere to be found, but there were scorch marks everywhere and a few patches of grass were burned too, meaning he had fought whoever had attacked them.

Kingsley burst inside the flaming building and began to cast anti-fire charms and water spells. Hermione and Ron followed suit, taking spells out from what they remembered of the Firefighting Spells chapter of the Auror handbook.

After the flames in the room were extinguished, Kingsley ran upstairs and ordered Ron and Hermione to check the backyard. Reluctantly, they left the senior Auror alone upstairs, where it seemed like there was fighting going on.

Ron checked every room on the first floor as Hermione walked towards the back. She opened the backdoor and looked out. Patches of grass were missing from the backyard and a few tree limbs were broken. There was a huge gaping hole in the side of the building and Ron was looking out from there. He gave the all-clear and they ran back inside and up the stairs.

The fighting was heavier now and more distinct. They could hear Kingsley shouting and other voices from upstairs. The third floor. They ran up and Hermione reached it first. She ducked just as a spell rebounded off of the wall a few feet away and headed towards her. It hit the stair railing and showered them all with splinters. She hissed as a few of the splinters embedded themselves on her skin and she waved her wand to take them out.

Ron was already heading towards the fighting, but something told Hermione to wait by the stairs, and so she waited. The wall to her left, the opposite way of where Ron was heading, exploded outward. When the smoke and dust cleared, there was a hole in the wall, where one man came out. He was dressed in all black tights and a black ski mask. He had two wands in his hand and, upon seeing Hermione, began tobombard her with spells.

She barely managed to dodge some of them and conjure a shield at the same time. She tried to return fire, but the man had two wands for crying out loud! Spell after spell, there was no let up in his barrage.

A purple light flashed and the black figure was thrown through the railing, which broke, and down three flights of stairs. He crashed onto the first floor with a sickening crack that made Hermione shiver. It felt like a warzone.

Another black-clad figure emerged, but it was fighting with someone else from across the hole and hadn't seen Hermione.

She quickly sent two stunning spells at it but the figure ducked and returned fire, making Hermione sidestep and lose her balance. She almost fell down the stairs but a hand grabbed her wrist and steadied her.

"Easy there, Hermione. You're going to hurt yourself if you fall down those stairs," Shaklebolt Kingsley said as he attacked the figure with a couple of his own spells.

A scream resounded from the hole as two more black-clad figures jumped out of it and returned fire through the hole. One of them saw Kingsley and the figure fighting and began to send a spell at Kingsley, but Hermione beat him to it and sent him flying back.

He hit the wall hard and barely managed to stay standing as he reeled from the hit. A stunning spell sent in his direction missed as a hastily conjured barrier absorbed the hit. He rolled to his right and fired off two spells at Hermione, which barely missed.

She returned fire and began to incorporate some of her arsenal of spells. The man was fighting well and would have overcome her if she weren't an Auror and the smartest witch of her age to boot. Which meant, that he was losing.

He dodged a spell that was sent at him and managed to block two more spells. A tripping spell made him land on his feet and it was just pure luck that he tripped and fell behind a chair as the chair exploded into hundreds of splinters. He cried out in pain and Hermione quickly stunned him. He fell silent and she smiled triumphantly.

Suddenly, a force hit her hard in the back and sent her flying to the wall. She hit her head on a lamp mounted on the wall and she instantly saw stars. Her vision was blurry as she conjured a shield.

The smell of smoke started to fill her lungs as she found herself thrown through a door and into a room that was still burning. The flames were just a few feet away and were inching towards her steadily. She tried to stand and raise her shield again, but her left shoulder and her left leg suddenly exploded with pain.

She fell to the ground and saw that her shoulder and leg were bleeding profusely. A huge gash on her shoulder and a pretty deep cut on her leg, she tried to get up and roll out of the line of fire, but another spell made her entire body feel as if a million thick needles were being pushed through her skin at the same time. Crutacious curse, she thought, before she blacked out...

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Review please. Thanks!


	3. Vacation

**NOTES: Rated M for violence, blood/gore, and maybe some minor sexual parts. Language too! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

_Blink_

**Story Description: **Voldemort is dead, the Death Eaters disbanded. Harry struck the final blow, but it was his friends that helped him. Harry disappears, Hermione and Ron are stunned. Ron moves on, but Hermione can't shake the fact that there seems to be something wrong. They are both good aurors and soon they are assigned to a case that is connected to a secret group and someone who is determined to dominate the world, just like Voldemort. This new enemy is good, very good. So good in fact, that Harry left because of him. But the golden boy will return, when the world needs him the most...

**STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter story, JK Rowling does. I am merely another author who wishes to write a story based on her stories. I own my made-up characters, places, descriptions, spells, items, and anything else you don't recognize from the original books. The characters in this story are fictional and are used fictitiously by the auther (moi).**

* * *

**Chasing a Shadow**

**Vacation**

* * *

_Ministry Safehouse, just outside of Colchester, England_

Hermione opened her eyes wide, and saw flames just a foot away from her. Smoke filled the room and she coughed immediately. If she didn't get out, she would suffocate and die or she may get poison in her lungs. She willed herself to apparate to the front of the house, but then felt the heavy blanketlike feeling of an anti-apparition ward.

Her mind instantly snapped into action, consuming what little oxygen she had left, she sent a spell towards the closed door and tore it in half. She willed herself to get up and she ran through the broken door. Soot and sweat covered her from head to toe as she fell to the floor, breathing in much needed oxygen.

She rose after a minute or so and looked around. The figure she had stunned was no longer there and there was no sound save for the burning, creaking, and cracking of the house. Wait, cracking?

The house was falling apart! Just as she thought that, a wooden beam a foot away from her suddenly gave and fell to the floor with a loud crash and in a swirl of dust and debris.

Hermione prepared to jump out the window but then pulled the plug on that plan as she remembered she was on the third floor. Well, that was what magic was for, wasn't it? She broke the window with a wave of her wand and jumped through it, instantly transfiguring some bushes into a pile of huge pillows. She fell softly on the pillows and rolled out, just as the roof caved in on the third floor. The rest of the house followed soon after.

Only the broken and burning remains of the building could be seen where once stood an elegant three-level house. She was confused, where were Kingsley and Ron? The other aurors? Who were the ones that attacked the safehouse? Why? What should I do?

She failed to come up with an answer to all her questions save for the last one. She had to reach the Ministry and contact them about this immediately. Something was up, and she knew it. She decided to keep going south until she could apparate, after all, that was where they had come from and that was where the gate was.

She started walking as she contemplated what happened. The black-clad figures were pretty strong and were trained well, but who sent them and for what purpose?

Leaving the flaming ruins of the safehouse behind her, she exited the compound and began to walk, following the winding path of the only road she could see.

The road soon intersected another, larger, and more used road, and Hermione decided to go west. The blanket feeling of the anti-apparition wards were still on her, but she could feel it waning as she reached the outer edges of its range.

Trees lines the streets around her as she continued walking along the side of the road, heading west, towards the setting sun. The sun was already down on the horizon and it cast a bright orange-yellowish glow that made things seem kind of golden.

Ten minutes later, she sensed the anti-apparition ward disappear and she quickly disapparated.

There were several emergency apparition points that were designated to all aurors. They were to apparate there whenever they encountered problems or when they had something important to do or to deliver.

Hermione put the image of one of them in her mind and quickly apparated herself there. She heard the light crack of her apparition and she soon found herself facing four aurors with all four of their wands out and pointing at her.

She hadblood all over her left side, soot and dirt all over her clothes and skin, and her hair felt like a mess. She looked like a survivor of a nuclear explosion. They lowered their wands as they realized who she was.

"AurorHermione?" one of them asked, though she knew it was her.

"Hm?" she said, weakly, as a sudden feeling of nausea overcame her senses. Her mind reeled and her vision swirled and turned black as the blood loss, shock, and confusion of the recent events overtook her.

* * *

_Military base, somewhere in Germany_

"Everything is going according to plan, General," the young Major Hans Sprechen announced, smiling.

The general sat in his leather seat, and nodded in acknowledgement. "You are doing well, Hans. Soon, your hard work will be rewarded. Bring me more results!"

"Jawohl, General!" he saluted and left the office.

The general picked up his phone and contacted his superior, who he was told to call 'master'. He sighed, if it wasn't for the fact that what he was doing was for the good of the world and that there was a hefty reward involved, then he would not be doing as the master told him to do.

The phone rang once, twice, three times. Someone picked up. Silence.

"Master?"

A moment of silence followed before a reply came, "Who is this?"

"General Kruger, master."

"Well?"

"I have good news, all goes well with the intelligence gathering. Soon, we will begin Operation Lightningstrike."

"Good, very good, general. You are doing well. I shall contact you on the details of Operation Lightningstrike soon. Your counterparts across the world will have to collaborate since the Operation must be launched simultaneously to catch the enemies of the world off-guard," the voice said, very pleased.

"I understand, master," he said, and then hesitated, "Master - will you permit me a..question?" he continued.

"Since you are the first to contact me with good news, I shall permit you this one question."

General Kruger's nervousness lessened, he thought he might be reprimanded. It was a good thing he had good news then. "Well, I would just like to ask. How many of us are there? How many are going to fight these freaks of nature?" he asked.

The voice paused, as if contemplating what answer it was going to give him. "Enough, General. Enough. I shall contact you, do not try and initiate contact with me anymore, I will contact you from now on. Understood?"

"I understand," he spoke and the master put down the phone.

* * *

_Ministry of Magic, London_

The debriefing room was claustrophobically small. The walls were made of cement and were pretty thick. Two inches of armor encased the room, and it was enough to keep even good wizards and witches in until enough Ministry personnel could be dispatched to take care of them.

A single lamp hung from the ceiling, which was no more than seven feet high. There was a small steel table bolted to the cement floor and two steel chairs that were also bolted to the floor were placed across from each other.

Hermione sat in one of the seats, her back to the thick steel door that she knew had two aurors outside and a magical barrier that could stop some pretty powerful spells.

She sighed, she had woken up in a bed in one of the holding cells and was quickly ushered into the debriefing room. More like an interrogation room, she thought sarcastically. Her wounds had been healed and her blood replenished, but the Ministry had not fed her yet, and her stomach grumbled with complaint.

Her clothes were tattered, her jeans still had soot marks and dirt on them. They were torn and ripped in a lot of places and so was her collared shirt, which was ripped in a lot of places as well and was also covered in black soot and lots of dirt.

She felt icky and dirty, and she didn't like it. Her hair felt gross as well and she knew there was other stuff in her hair.She waited for what seemed like an eternity, her thoughts running wild. Maybe they thought she was a criminal now, maybe they thought it was her who had attacked the safehouse.

Maybe...maybe they thought she had gone crazy or something. She shook her head, when where they going to release her? She had been there for about...two..no, three hours? The empty walls, the clean steel tables and chairs, they were all getting very boringand weren't much of a good sight to the eyes.

The steel door suddenly made some clanking and clicking sounds as the locks were disengaged and the door swung open quietlyupon well-oiled hinges. She turned to see who it was and opened her eyes wide, Shaklebolt Kingsley was looking her square in the eye. He was closely followed by a man Hrmione didn't know.

The steel door was closed and locked as the man walked to the chair across from Hermione and sat down. Shaklebolt Kingsley walked over next to the table and leaned against the wall, his eyes never leaving Hermione.

The manlooked intently at her, as if waiting for her to speak, but as soon as she started to, she was cut off.

"Hermione Granger, Auror second-class, member of the Golden Trio, friend of Harry Potter, and the smartest witch to graduate from Hogwarts for years. This is your second year as an Auror and you have made amazing progress. You have officially completed thirty-three assigned cases and you have no pending cases as of yet.

Mother and Father are muggles, both dentists. Their names are Sarah Granger and John Daniel Granger.

You were bornonSeptember ninteen,nineteen-seventy-nine and started to attend Hogwarts in nineteen-ninety-one.

Your wand is Vinewood with a core of dragon heartstring, pretty good wand you have there.You have a ginger cat named Crookshanks, which you bought in nineteen-ninety-three. You founded S.P.E.W., the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.

You are currently listed as one of the top aurors in the Ministry and you are supposedly a hardworking, smart, and friendly witch." the man finished. He put the file he was reading from on the table and closed it.

He looked at Hermione as if expecting her to say something, when Kingsley spoke. "Are you alright, Hermione?"

She looked at him, slightly confused, "Yes. What happened? I saw you fighting with those people - everything went to hell - spells were flying, I stunned someone by the way- I was knocked out and hurt in a burning room - you weren't anywhere to be found when I woke up..." she fired away, but Kingsley stopped her.

"I couldn't find you, honestly! I was more worried about getting Ron out. The attackers had left and taken their casualties with them and I couldn't find you, so I thought they might have taken you with them. I quickly took Ron to the hospital, he is currently in the I.C. unit," he replied.

"Will he be alright?"

"Of course he will. The doctors and healers say he is recovering well and he should be back on his feet this Sunday."

"Which leads me to ask. How did you get here?" the man asked, a pen in hand as a notepad suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

She looked at him and her eyes squinted in suspicion, "You're not a reporter are you?" she asked venemously.

The man laughed, "Oh, dear God! No! I am no reporter, auror Granger. I am the acting head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I am here to debrief you on a highly secure case that just so happens to be yours, after we are through of course..." he informed her.

Hermione looked at him, puzzled, then at Kingsley. "What happened to Amelia Bones?" she asked.

"You mean, Minister Bones?" the man asked.

"WHAT!"

"Yes, you see Hermione. Cornelius Fudge was found dead at his home along with the guards that were protecting him. His home was burned to the ground, but we have recovered his body. His funeral is set for this Friday," Kingsley explained, "So, as the Deputy Minister, Amelia Bones is now the acting Minister of Magic."

"Oh." At that moment, Hermione's world seemed to go into a standstill. So much had happened in the course of a few hours. What time was it anyway?

"What is the time? How long-"

"You've been gone about two...two-and-a-halfhours. It's currently around eight o'clock in the evening," the man said. "Now, please answer my question auror Granger. How did youget here?"

"Well, I left the safehouse and travelled down the road - I walked - and then I turned right - west - when the road intersected with the first road. I then apparated to the emergency apparition point."

"And you saw no one on your way back? You made sure that there was no one else in the house? Do you recall anything about these attackers?" he questioned further.

"No, I didn't see anyone at all. Not a soul, actually. I was pretty sure there was no one else in the house, after all, it collapsed into a burning heap seconds after I left it," she answered immediately, but for the last question she paused and thought for a moment.

The man who was supposedly the acting head of the DMLE was writing things down on his pad. Hermione wondered what he was writing, but then again he might just be filing the debriefing report later and didn't want to do it now.

"Well, they were wearing black suits that were skin-tight. They had boots on and they had black ski masks that covered their faces. They actually looked like some special muggle tactics team or something. I do remember that they were pretty strong, both magically and physically."

"Did you try to identify any of them? Pull of their ski masks? I recall you said you stunned someone."

"No, sir. I - well, the guy I stunned - I couldn't identify him because before I could do that I was flung to the wall and then into the burning room, where I got cut up and then someone had the thought of using the Crutacious on me..." she explained, a little angry as she recalled the events of earlier that afternoon.

"Wait, you said someone cast the Crutacious on you?"

"Yes, that's what I said."

"I see. Well, how did you get out of the burning safehouse, that you said, collapsed seconds after you left?" he asked, still writing.

It felt like she was being interviewed by Rita Skeeter. For some reason, he didn't like the man. "I broke through a window and landed outside. I then ran a little so as to stay clear as the building collapsed," she answered.

"So you didn't try and check the house for any survivors or to see if there was anything missing or whatnot?"

"How could I? I would've died! Besides, I had just gotten there. How would I know if there was something missing? I just know that in the time between my waking up and jumping out the window, there were no bodies on the ground whatsoever," she told him, crossing her arms.

He nodded and then finally stopped writing. "Very well then, you are hereby sent to paid vacation, six days. I think that should help you rest up and ease your shock.Apparently, you were pretty shaken by this event, since it seems to have deterred you from what regular aurors would do. Don't worry, I understand," he said.

She looked at him with a bewildered look. What was this guy saying? He was so full of crap! If he wasn't the acting DMLE director then she would have already hit him,hard.

"Thisvacationwill help. I expect a full recovery of your mental and physical state by Monday. You will then proceed to investigate this attack, I expect results auror Granger. Good luck to you and have a nicevacation," he said as he tapped on the metal door.

The locks disengaged and he stepped out andspoke to the aurors on guard. The door stayed open as he left, apparently he told them of the situation.

"Who_is_ that guy? Ohhh...I just want to strangle him! '_I expect a full recovery of your mental and physical state by Monday_'my gosh!What a bag full of air.My mental and physical state is in no way in need of recovery...well, maybe my physical state but still! Argh!" she clenched her fists in anger.

Kingsley chuckled deeply, "Come on, we have to go. I expect they need to use this room soon. Besides, you're on vacation, aren't you?"

She mumbled a reply that he didn't catch and stalked out of the room. Kingsley shook his head and smiled as he followed suit. The steel door closed behind them and the locks clanked into place as they walked towards the elevators.

* * *

_St. Stephen's Hospital, somewhere in magical London_

St. Stephen's Hospital was somewhat of the Ministry's private hospital. Though the hospital was also open to the public, most of the patients recieved by the hospital were either Ministry personnel or ex-Ministry personnel or someone who the Ministry deems important enough to keep alive.

The hospital was large, but it was even larger inside thanks to magic. It looked as if it had about ten floors, but in reality, it had around twenty. There were more than enough doctors and nurses and the funding they recieved mostly came from the Ministry and private parties.

Hermione strode towards the entrance of the hospital as the doors parted for her, either magically or because they installed a motion detector, she didn't know. The hospital smelled like any other hospital in the world. It smelled clean. It smelled of antiseptics, soap, and a hint of death in the air.

She went to the front desk, where the nurse asked her who she was and what her business was. She told the nurse that she was visiting a friend, a co-worker in fact. She told her Ron's full name and she was immediately pointed to the elevators.

"Eighth floor, room eight-twenty-one," the nurse said.

"Thanks," Hermione said in reply as she walked over to the elevators and pressed the call button. She waited a few seconds before the elevator doors parted. Three doctors came out, talking deeply to each other. She went into the elevator, pressed eight, and then waited as the doors closed and the elevator moved.

A mere two seconds passed before the eighthfloor appeared before her after the doors had parted. She stepped out and shook her head, the time-saving miracles of magic had done their job again.

She followed the sign that informed where rooms were and she soon found herself in room 821. She opened the door and knocked slightly.

"Who's there?" a groggy voice asked.

"Ron! It's me, Hermione."

"Oh, hey 'Mione."

She decided to let that slide, he _was_ hurt after all and it would be bad if she hurt him some more. "How are you? What did the doctors say? What happened? How did you get out?"

"Wow, slow down Hermione. First things first, what happened to you? According to Kingsley, he thought you kidnapped by the attackers or something."

"Well, let's just say I wasn't kidnapped and I got to the Ministry safely. Have you seen that new DMLE director?" she asked.

"Oh, the ass? Yep. I've seen him and I don't like him."

"Well, glad we agree on that one. So? Answer my questions already!" she urged him as she took a seat from the side and placed it next to the bed. She sat down and waited for him to tell her.

"Well, I was dueling with one of 'em ninja-looking dudes, and well let's just say he was bloody good. Waaaay too good for me. I managed to injure him a little, but he plain took me out. If it wasn't for Kingsley and that other auror rushing in to help I would've been a goner. Well, I almost was, according to the healer," he told her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I had six broken ribsboth femurs broken, my right ankle dislocated, my entire wand hand crushed, my larynx was nearly crushed, and I had dozens of cuts, some of 'em were really deep. The damn guy broke my nose too! But that was the first thing that was fixed. As you can see, their replenishing my lost blood," he continued, pointing to a IV bag that was filled with blood and that was connected to his right hand.

"I'm sorry. I should've stuck with you. We are partners after all," she said, sniffing slightly.

"Don't worry about it. I survived. Besides, I thought I could handle it, otherwise I would've never left your side..." he said with a smile.

She shook her head and smiled as well. "So, you still haven't answered how you got here."

He shut his eyes for a bit, as if thinking, and then opened them again. "Well, I don't really remember much. I remember Kingsley picking me up - and the other auror! - yes, I remember, he was there, fighting off the rest of the attackers. They suddenly disappeared, but the other auror felk to the ground. I think he was dead. Anyway, Kingsley carried me off, then the next thing I knew I was here."

"He didn't even go back to check the others?"

"Not as far as I remember, and that isn't much mind you," he spoke.

The door opened and an old man with curly thick gray hair and a dark gray mustache came into the room. He was wearing white healer clothes and he regarded Hermione as a nuisance. She saw it in his eyes.

"I'm sorry miss, but Mr. Weasley should not be disturbed any longer. He needs his rest if he wants to continue to work as an auror," he dismissed her curtly.

He walked over to him and ran some check-up spells, he didn't even look at Hermione a second time.

"Well, go on 'Mione. See you soon," Ron said and closed his eyes.

She stood and glared at the healer, who still didn't look up, and left the room. By the time she got home, she was tired. It was a miracle that she had enough strength to take a shower and clean herself up before going into a deep slumber.

* * *

_Hermione's Apartment, London  
Next day.._

Hermione opened her eyes as light poured through her windows and hit her dead on. She put her head under the covers and tried to go back to sleep, to no avail. She opened her eyes again and looked around.

Her bedroom wasn't really too fancy and wasn't too furnished. All she had was her queen-sized bed with a very comfortable mattress, a sidetable with a lamp, and two landscape paintings on the wall.

Adjacent to the bathroom, she had a fair-sized walk-in closet that containedeall of her clothes and shoes. She got up and walked to the bathroom and took another shower, a cold one this time, to wake herself up. She got dressed and went to the kitchen to fix up some breakfast.

She passed her sidetable and noted that the alarm clock read 11:33am. Upon exiting her bedroom, she was in a short hallway that opened up into the kitchen. The kitchen was, in turn, open and you could see into the living room from there. She walked over to the coffee table in the living room and turned on the tv.

She put it to BBC and went to work on getting some breakfast cooked. She caught glimpses of the news as she cooked and took comfort in the fact that nothing bad was really happening, well nothing war related or mysterious death related. There was still a food problem in Africa and in North Korea and there was smuggling of people in Asia to the West.

She ate some scrambled eggs and some muffins and made herself a hot cup of coffee. It was strange, not having to wake up early and go to the office to work. She saw the next headline and noted that it said, 'Hottest Clothing Trends'.She watched it intently, after all, it had been a while since she had gone shopping and it was about time she did.

She went out that day, to shop, for the first time in years. Well, the first time that she did it for fun and just for the heck of it. She usually shopped for the bare necessities that kept her alive and working.

She spent the entire afternoon shopping and bought herself a mocha frapuccino from the Starbucks around the corner and headed for home. She put her new belongings in the closet and watched some tv as she fixed herself a snack of chips and a sandwhich she had bought from the sandwhich shop next to Starbucks.

Her phone rang, startling her. She stood and answered it on the fifth ring.

"Hello? Hello! Hermione! Hermione, you there?" a familiar female voice greeted from the other line.

"Yes? Lavender? Is that you!" she askedm surprised.

"Yes! Glad you remembered. Listen, I heard you were on a little vacation and so I planned a little get togetherparty of the girls from our batch in Gryffindor. Hey, you can invite Gen or Ginif you want!"

"It's Ginny, and uh...what time is this party?" she replied.

"Thirty minutes, so get ready! Everyone will be there!" she said and she put the phone down.

Well, she had nothing planned for the night, and so shemight as well go. She smiled, her first vacation and things were quick to happen. How did Lavender know she was on vacation anyway? Oh well, she got dressed and ready to go in a record five minutes, and quickly disapparated, heading to the Burrow for an unexpected visit.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Reivews please? Thanks JVTazz!


	4. Harris Earl

**NOTES: Rated M for violence, blood/gore, and maybe some minor sexual parts. Language too! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! It was time to remove the story description. I hope you like my story and please review! This chapter is pretty long, so bear with me.**

_Blink_

**STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter story, JK Rowling does. I am merely another author who wishes to write a story based on her stories. I own my made-up characters, places, descriptions, spells, items, and anything else you don't recognize from the original books. The characters in this story are fictional and are used fictitiously by the auther (moi).**

* * *

**Chasing a Shadow**

**Harris Earl**

* * *

_Northampton, England_  
_Sunday afternoon_

Head Auror Detective Harris Earl sipped some wine as he sat on his EZ-chair. He reclined all the way until he was lying down and closed his eyes. He needed some rest, he had been working for fourty-eight hours straight and had finally gotten some headway on a high-level investigation he was doing.

There was a group out there, who was taking after Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Though they were not as public as Voldemort was, several mysterious deaths had prompted the DMLE to investigate.

One thing turned up, and then another. Soon, Harris had found out about a secret group that was organized long before Voldemort returned to power. The farthest he got in researching and investigating the group was that they had group cells in every major country in the world. In England, they had at least one hundred cells or more with an unknown number of members.

He was going to continue investigating after a twelve-hour rest period which was demanded of him by the new director, he was working too hard and he was supposedly going to kill himself because of that.

He was so close to uncovering the location of one of the cells, but the director had unfortunately barged in and told him to rest. The director was an arse and was a little crazy up there, but he seemed hardworking enough. Though Harris had a strange feeling about him being ordered to rest when he was so close to uncovering something important, he let it slide.

The new director's name was Edward Jones, or as he tells people to call him, Ed. He had supposedly just happened to be close by and being a retired and very prestigious ex-auror, he had coincidentally been chosen to be temporary director of the DMLE. If something smelled funny, it would be him.

But that was another investigation for another time. He got out of his EZ-chair and headed for his office, where stacks of files were neatly organized to the side of it. He sat down on his comfy swivel chair and began to look through records of lot sales in London. Anything suspicious was written out ona pad next to him.

He then went through an intelligence report filed by two aurors who were working the field. One of them had supposedly infiltrated the ranks of this new group, but he had not reported back since he gave his report.

He was sworn to secrecy and with a magical contract, he could not say exactly where the cell that he joined was. In his report, he had stated that it was near downtown London, between two buildings that were pretty tall. That narrowed it down to a couple of dozen.

He reread the report, trying to find out which building was the right one. He hunched over the files and papers that were open and started reading again.

* * *

A large black SUV with unmarked plates parked on the corner of a street as another car that was completely identical to the first swept in and parked on the opposite end. An unmarked black van rolled through the street a few seconds later and stopped in front of a modest looking two floor house. 

The SUV's moved and parked themselves perpendicular to the sidewalk, effectively blocking the street off. The back doors of the van burst open as black-clad figures stepped outside. Two of them carried what appeared to be sticks of some sort.

The other six were carrying different weapons. One of them had a 12-gauge military shotgun in his hands, which he clenched tightly. The other five wielded L85A2 assault rifles. The L85A2 fired 5.52x4mm NATO rounds and had a thirty-round magazine. If used by an expert, it could fire up to six-hundred and fifty rounds per minute.

It was small and easily maneuvarable because of that. One could quickly fix a bayonet on the end and it outperformed the M16, AK, and G36E in reloading times, accuracy, and effectiveness in close-quarters combat.

The black-clad men wore a special armor that was stronger than kevlar and they wore ski masks with helmets over that. They had mics in ther helmets to help communicate and a flashlight too. They had military-issue boots and they had pistols, knives, grenades, and other special forces equipment with them.

They had their weapons out and hot and walked towards the door of the house, ready to barge in and start firing. Before going in, they screwed on some silencers to help keep the noise level down, but in any event, they would be in and out fast enough so that, if by any chance, the neighbours saw them or heard them, they would be gone before the authorities arrived.

They waited outside the door, the one with the shotgun right in front, barrel pointing towards the door. The figure with the stick pointed it at the door and gave a little flick and mumbled something. A light appeared in the keyhole as the door opened, unlocked. They stepped into the house, quietly, guns at the ready.

* * *

Harris thought he heard something, but then again he was pretty tired and so he thought he was imagining something. He went back to researching and had narrowed it down to two buildings, both of which were likely candidates. He was probably just going to have to raid both of them simultaneously to be sure. 

Creak.

He heard it again and his eyes squinted with suspicion. His wand was on the table, next to the notepad that was filled with his writing. He got his wand and quickly hid the papers and files. He stood and turned around just as the door started to inch open.

The barrel of the L85A2 assault rifle came into view as the bearer of the rifle slowly walked into the room. He checked to make sure no one was behind the door and then went back out again.

Harris breathed out and walked out, still disillusioned. He crept behind the figure who had gone into the office and prepared to stun him when he suddenly heard something behind him.

Pain exploded in his right shoulder as blood suddenly seeped into his clothes. He fell down just as another round tore through the air and hit the wall right in front of him.

He turned and fired a spell off at the shooter and caught him on the thigh. The shooter spun in the air and fell, but he quickly got into a kneeling position and started firing at him.

He cast a shield charm and the buillets hit the shield harmlessly. Suddenly he saw movement at the corner of his eye. He turned his shield just as the bullet left the muzzle of the rifle. The bullet impacted on the shield, making it flicker.

Harris sent a stunning spell at him, but the man ducked and hid behind the kitchen island. He turned his shield over as the first shooter peeked from behind the corner. He sent a spell at the corner where the figure was hiding and it exploded.

The man screamed, his left arm was shattered and bleeding in numerous places. He was cursing and calling Harris numerous names before he stunned him. The second shooter didn't come up from behind the island counter and so he took the chance to stand and head for the door. He couldn't apparate here because he himself had activated his anti-apparition wards and they were very strong.

He turned the corner, passing the stunned bleeding figure and the broken wall, and just as he turned to the foyer, two of the black figures stood there. One had a wand pointing at him and another had another one of the muggle weapons.

He raised his hands in defeat, expecting to be captured.

BANG

The shotgun had no silencer and the shot echoed loudly throughout the house and reached the neighbours house. The alarms of the cars on the street suddenly activated and honking noises filled the air.

Harris Earl's abdomen had been blown wide open and blood spilled everywhere as he fell to the ground. The shotgun muzzle had been a mere two feet away when it went off, and the shot had killed him instantly.

It had torn through him and exited through his back, giving massive damage to his intestines, kidneys, stomach, and all the other organs in the area. His lifeless eyes were staring up at the ceiling as the black-clad figures spread out, as if searching for something.

They left two minutes later, empty-handed. They had not found the files that their captain had told them about, but they had killed the enemy and silenced him, permanently.

* * *

_Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic  
Monday_

Hermione was already walking to her office, her trusty Starbucks in her hand. Everything had gone well over the vacation and she felt energized and ready to take on her job again. She never realized how tired she was until last week.

She sipped some of her coffee as she opened the door. Ron, smiling, was already there and he waved at her.

"Well you're early," she noted, quite surprised. She walked over to her desk and sat down. She sipped some more of the coffee.

"I woke up early and checked out of the hospital. You don't know how much I have been wanting to get out of that place! I almost went mad!" he exclaimed, making wild motions with his hands.

"So you're okay now?"

"Yep, better than ever!" he replied enthusiastically, "I actually think that one week of rest made me feel a whole lot better, really."

She felt the same way. She took another sip of her coffee as she read the daily department news that was on her desk. It detailed everything that happened the day before and everything that was being planned by the department, such as raids, scouting, tailing, and other things.

Nothing special jumped out at her and so she put the paper away. The door opened and Angela Parker entered the room.

She was their boss and was an auror first-class. Every auror-first class led a group of three pairs of aurors second-class. She was a stern and strict woman, more than ten years older than either Hermione and Ron, and was highly respected by her peers and subordinates. She was Korean, though it didn't really show since she looked quite British with her blue-green eyes and dirty blonde hair.

"Ron, Hermione - you have a special assignment," she said and with that she beckoned for them to follow her as she left their office.

They looked at each other as excitement filled them. A special assignment? Wow, they had never had a 'special' assignment before. They quickly stood and ran after her, their Starbucks completely forgotten on their desks.

Angela's office was a little bigger than theirs and was just for her, which made all the difference. Hermione had a feeling of jealousy, she was strong enough and high enough in rank to go and investigate things on her own and to do many other things that second-class aurors couldn't do. Well, she would get there soon enough, and so she banished the thoughts of jealousy and turned serious - this was a special assignment after all.

She went over to her desk and handed them both the same exact copy of files. "In there you will find all you need to know about the victim, the circumstances, and why this is a special assignment. If you have any questions, just come over and ask me," she said, "Don't let me down." Her tone was one of dismissal.

"Yes ma'am!" they replied in unison. They left the office and headed for their own, reading the file in their hands as if the meaning of life was written in the very pages of it.

They were so engrossed with their reading that they hardly noticed the figure following them from a distance. The figure eyed the files warily and then turned away as they entered the office.

Hermione sat down, a little shocked and confused. The folder she had in her hands was closed. The file read -**TOP SECRET-** and inside was a dossier on Head Auror Detective Harris Earl. After the dossier was a file that stated that Auror Earl failed to report to work last Friday. They assumed he was just gone for a bit. After all, Harris Earl wouldn't leave the Ministry, he lived for his job for crying out loud.

Hermione looked at Ron and nodded, at the very back of the paper was an order from the Shaklebolt Kingsley, who was using his rank as Senior Auror to initiate the investigation. Apparently, the director didn't order an investigation, stating that Harris Earl probably just left to go travel the world or something.

Kingsley wasn't convinced and so he had ordered the investigation and had recommended that Hermione and Ron handle the case. She opened the file and reread the order, signed by Kingsley at the bottom.

_**Aurors,**_

**_You are hereby ordered to initiate an investigation on the suspicious disappearance of Head Auror Detective Harris Earl. This investigation is of utmost importance and is deemed top secret and for your eyes only. You are not to talk about this case to anyone whithin the Ministry. Only me, Angela, and you know of this._**

**_The director has deemed starting an investigation a 'waste of time' and he hinted that Earl may have just gotten tired of the Ministry. I know the man and I know for a fact that he would not do this._**

**_Furthermore, I hereby authorize you, using my rank as a Senior Auror, to use any means necessary to handle this investigation. Good luck!_**

**_S.K._**

She closed the file, the first thing they had to do was to go over there.

"We have to check if he's still there," she told him.

"Yep, there may be some clues over there about his disappearance," he agreed.

They stood, carrying their files with them. Hermione put her's in her bag, shrinking the file magically before doing so, while Ron put his into his briefcase. They left the office and made sure to lock it securely.

Heading for the elevators, they were already thinking of why a Head Auror Detective who woke up every morning because he wanted to do his job would suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth.

* * *

_Harris Earl's home, Northampton, England_

They had apparated a block from the house, deciding to walk the rest of the way there so that they could ask the neighbours some questions about Earl. No doubt the auror was friendly with his neighbours, after all, his dossier labeled him as a pretty nice person to muggles, unlike some people. He was somewhere above Draco's hate for muggles and below Mr. Weasley's love for them.

They stopped at the third house down the street from Earl's home and decided to ask the resident some questions. Hermione walked over to the house and knocked on the door as Ron followed her closely, silently.

The houses on the street were fairly nice. They weren't shabby and they weren't too expensive either. The lawn and the gardens were well kept and looked after and the street was clean and neat. There were good cars in the driveways, hybrids actually, which meant that these people looked after the environment and were above the average pay-grade.

She knocked on the door and moments later, an elderly woman answered the door. She was shorter than Hermione and hunched slightly, she hada gold wedding ring with a shiny diamond on it. Her hair had turned white long ago and there were many wrinkles on her skin.

She had some pearl earrings on and a pearl necklace, which went well with her outfit.

"May I help you?" she inquired curiously.

"Ma'am, we're detectives from the local police station. We're investigating -" Hermione began to explain, but she was cut off by the old woman.

"Harris? Are you here about Harris Earl? Down in number 325? Yes?"

"Uh - yeah, sure," she replied uncertainly. She could feel Ron's supressed laughter from behind her.

"Well, they must have told you what happened. I don't really remember much. It was actually my husband who heard it all happen.He heard the sound of cars and he looked outside to check on who it was. There was a black SUV parked at this end of the street and the SUV was parked perpendicular to the sidewalk, blocking the street.

He found it strange and so he went down and checked down the street from the window. There was another SUV, blocking the other side of the road. There was also a van parked in front of Harris' house, according to my husband. That was when I heard the gunshots," she explained.

She told them that she heard gunshots from down the street, coming from the direction of Harris' house. She also heard an explosion. She finished by telling her that the cops had come and cordoned off the area. "I never expected him to die. He was such a nice man and he helped us all with any problems we had. He was very friendly an- " she was saying, but Hermione cut her off, her mind on alert.

"Did you just say...he's dead?" she asked, "How do you know?"

She looked surprised that they didn't know, after all they did say they were from the police department. "It was announced on the news! Also, a police officer came and asked us the same thing you did."

"Oh, okay. Thank you for your time," she thanked her.

"Not a problem, detectives. Good luck!" she replied and shut the door quietly.

Hermione looked at Ron, who was just as intrigued as her. Harris Earl was dead and something about it wasn't right. They walked to the next house, and the next, and both had the same observations as the first old lady, but the guy right next to Harris said he saw black-clad soldier-looking guys who were armed to the teeth.

They had broken into Harris' home and later left in a hurry, that was after the explosion rocked the neighbourhood. He was, in fact, the first one to call 911. They thanked him and finally moved on to Harris' house.

It was not much different from the other houses, it was a two floor house and the architecture was pretty much the same. There was yellow police tape across the front door and on the windows.

Hermione stepped up to the door and tried to open it. Locked. She unlocked it with a flick of her wand and ducked under the police tape. Ron followed her steps and they were soon inside the house.

The first thing they noticed was that there were some mud marks on the floor, both going in and heading out. There was some blood and the white chalk mark outline ofwhere Harris' body was found.

They walked inside and checked the place out. Hermione saw the busted wall, which could only happen from a strong spell impacting on the corner. There was some blood on the floor near the hole and she made a mental note to get samples of them.

She opened the door nearest to the broken corner wall andsaw that it was some sort of office. She went inside and checked to see if there was anything that would give clues as to what happened.

* * *

_Outside..._

Two people had gone inside the house. The man who was stationed to watch it had seen them open the locked door with a stick. He knew what kind of people they were.

He was in a black toyota corolla, parked in front of one of the neighbour's houses. He reached into his pocket and extracted a cell phone, with which he dialed a number that was given to him forsituations such as these.

The other end was picked up after two rings.

"Yes?"agruffvoice answered the phone.

"We have a problem..." he began.

* * *

Hermione was looking at the frames on the wall. There were pictures of a younger Harris, much younger than the picture in his dossier. He was smiling after recieving his diploma. Probably from Hogwarts, she guessed. 

There was a filing cabinet that she looked through, nothing special there. Only old cases that were all either solved, closed, or were just cold cases.

She looked at the desk, which had nothing on it. It looked as if he never used it, which she found strange. The man was a hard worker and most probably brought his work at home. As far as she could tell, there should have been papers all over his desk, stacked neatly of course. From the looks of the place, he liked order.

She reached out to see if there was any accumulation of dust on the surface, and was startled when she touched something a few inches above the table surface. The sound of paper falling to the floor snapped her out of her shock as she pointed her wand at the table top.

"Finite!" she said, poking her wand at the air.

Papers, quills, and files suddenly appeared on the desk. She returned the fallen papers to their respective stacks and observed the table first before she touched anything.

The swivel chair was turned away from the desk, indicating that he had left it at some point before he died. The papers on his desk were organized into neat stacks and everything was on the side except for a few folders, maps, reports, and other papers.

Near the edge, opposite the side facing the chair, there was a full ink bottle and a dry quill rested on a map, where he had started to circle something, but then stopped. A smudge of ink was near the tip of the quill.

Seeing that there was nothing standing out to her really, she turned the chair and sat down. Upon looking down and reading the files and papers he was looking at as well as glancing at the reports and the maps he had, Hermione couldn't believe what she was reading.

Her fingers trembled slightly as she flipped through a thin folder filled with reports from the spies sent into this strange group that had suddenly become active a few hours after Voldemort's death. She shivered, something about this didn't feel right.

"Ron! RON! GET OVER HERE!" she yelled for him, continuing to soak in this new information.

Apparently, someone from this group probablyfound out he was investigating them or something and wanted to stop him, immediately. Bribery or blackmail wouldn't work on such a man and only death would stop him completely, that was why he was killed.

Ron came to the office, his face showing little emotion, which meant he had found nothing of interest. Hermione didn't turn as he walked over beside her and looked down at what she was reading. They read together, in silence, as Hermione flipped the pages one by one.

When she finally finished, she looked up at Ron, who was shaking his head. He turned to look at her and smiled, "Just our bloody luck to get caught in this mess, huh?"

"Ron, whatever this group is doing, it must be really dangerous! Harris Earl thought so, and his death proves that they are trying to keep their existence a secret. I mean, they killed him after all!" she told him.

Ron looked thoughtful, "Well, if I was them, I would keep this house under watch until someone came. You did find these files here, untouched, right?" he said.

Hermione nodded, "They were invisible and I doubt they had seen it..." her eyes widened.

"Which means, they're waiting for someone to come and look for it. Which also means that we're in deep trouble," he said slowly, his wand already in his hand.

Hermione turned around, a black-clothed soldier stood in the doorway with a gun in his hands. An assault rifle to be exact.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Hehe. Anyway, please review. Mucho thanks! 


	5. Auror Special Forces

**NOTES: Please review, I would greatly appreciate it. Oh, and sorry for the late update. Very late actually...**

_Blink_

**STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter story, JK Rowling does. I am merely another author who wishes to write a story based on what she originally thought of. I own my made-up characters, places, descriptions, spells, items, and anything else you don't recognize from the original books. The characters in this story are fictional and are used fictitiously by the auther (moi).**

* * *

**Chasing a Shadow**

**Auror Special Forces**

* * *

_Harris Earl's residence, Northampton, England_

The black-clad soldier raised the assault weapon and barked an order, "Hand over the files!"

Ron was facing him, though slightly turned to the right so as to hide his wand. He moved a finger on his left hand and hoped Hermione understood what he meant.

The figure snapped at them again, ordering them to give him the files and jabbing his rifle at them. However, before he could do so a third time, Ron dove to the right as he sent a stunning spell at the soldier. Hermione dove to the left just as he did so and just in time as the gun fired and bullets ripped up the wall, tore through the chair, and chipped the table, sending debris everywhere.

The man flew back out the door and hit the wall of the hallway. Hermione looked at Ron seriously and nodded. They shouldn't stay. They willed themselves to apparate, but that's when they felt the anti-apparition ward.

"Damn!" cried Ron as he heard shouts from across the house.

"We have to get out of here!" replied Hermione, her wand in her hand as she shut the door and cast numerous spells and wards on it. 'That should hold them', she thought.

"Move over," said Ron as he stood up.

Hermione stood as well and moved over to the side as Ron aimed his wand at the wall.

"Reducto! Reducto!" he cried twice.

The wall exploded outward as a hole appeared through the dust and debris, large enough for them to walk through.

They bolted out of the hole and made a run for it. That's when they heard the sound of engines starting and the shouts and yells of angry men.

Casting multiple shield charms and other spells on themselves, they continued running.

They heard the screeching of tires and Hermione chanced a glance over her shoulder. She regretted it immediately as she tripped and fell over hard. A black unmarked toyota was speeding towards them.

She pushed herself up and decided to make a stand, they were muggles after all. How could she lose?

She quickly sent a spell at the car that made the front of the corolla crumple. It also threw the car into the air and made it flip over a number of times before it came crashing back down to the ground. Nothing moved after that as broken glass littered the street.

Another black car came into view a few hundred meters away and it too was unmarked. It sped towards them without even being taken aback by the fact that the other car was pretty much destroyed.

Ron appeared at her side as the car screeched to a halt in front of them.

Hermione raised her wand and sent two spells at it. However, unlike the first car, the spells impacted upon some sort of shield, leaving the car untouched.

The rear passenger door opened and out came a man who wore a black dueling robe. He also wore a strange black helmet that looked somewhat like a medieval piece of armor. Two soldiers came out, one from the rear as well as one from the front passenger side. They leveled their guns at the two aurors, but the black-clad wizard raised a hand and they lowered their weapons.

"Give us the files and you shall go unharmed," the wizard said, his voice heavily accented. He seemed Russian or something similar.

"What is your interest in the files?? This is Ministry property as it is an ongoing case! You cannot have them!" Hermione replied defiantly. She knew both she and Ron could take the stranger and the soldiers.

The man shook his head, "You need not know what my interest is and I beg you to reconsider your statement," he said in a menacing voice, his wand suddenly appeared in his hand.

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Reducto!" Hermione cried, her wand-hand raised in a flash.

The wizard had barely enough time to conjure a shield, especially at such close quarters. However, he created a shield in the wrong place, for his shield only covered where he faced.

The two stunning spells hit the two soldiers and they flew back a few feet. The blasting curse hit the car, on a point close to the gas tank actually, and caused it to explode. Since the wizard had his back to the car, he flew forward and landed on the ground. He was dazed but still conscious.

"Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Incarcerous!" said Ron.

The wizad's wand flew into Ron's outstretched hand as the red beam of light hit him and pushed him into a tree. Then thick ropes bound him tightly. It looked as if he was a mummy and Ron found it somewhat amusing.

"Well, the Department should be here any moment now..." Hermione said as she vanished and hid the file on the secret group.

Just a few seconds later, distinct pops of apparition could be heard as aurors arrived on the scene. The magic that was cast had been noticed, especially in a muggle neighbourhood, and already the alarms and wails of approaching muggle law enforcement cars were getting closer.

The two aurors identified themselves to the recently arrived aurors, who then proceeded to clean up the mess. Two more aurors were dispatched to take care of the muggle law enforcements as a reversal team was already on the way to obliviate all spectators. The car was fixed, fires were extinguished, damages were repaired, and the assailants were taken away for questioning.

"Well, what about a cup of coffee?" Ron asked, grinning.

Hermione shook her head, though she did need some caffeine in her system to help her think... "Fine. But we have to go over these files. I have a feeling that we won't like this secret group..." she replied as they apparated.

Unseen by the aurors, a black unmarked car rolled out of the neighbourhood and as it rounded a corner it sped away.

* * *

_A few hours later, somewhere..._

"My Lord, the files were not retrieved. Two aurors got a hold of it before we could and now they have it..." but before he could continue his report, the man was thrown against a wall more than fifteen feet away. Bones cracked and his spinal cord ruptured, piercing his lungs.

He slid to the ground and slumped onto the floor. Blood spattered the wall and pooled next to the gurgling and wheezing body. A few seconds later, it went still.

The dark figure looked at the others in the room menacingly. They shivered as his eyes swept their ranks. Though they could not see his face from under the dark hood, they could feel the evil reeking off the man.

"Failure is not an option. Retrieve the files. We must not be discovered this early into our plans. Now go and keep in mind what happens if you fail me," he dismissed them.

The others turned and ran in fear. The cold, dark hall was soon empty. This man was far worse than Voldemort was, they thought. Far worse.

The figure smiled as he read their thoughts. That was what he wanted to be. Voldemort was a fool. The figure shook his head. No, he would not be a fool like him. He would win.

* * *

_A few days later, MLE HQ, Ministry of Magic, London, England_

"Apparently, they've been very busy lately. Dark magic books, weapons, armor, wands, potions, meetings, killings, and all the other things that Voldemort was doing. However, this time it appears they're even better at keeping it a secret and they're also far more... professional," Hermione finished, playing with a strand of her hair.

They had been pouring through the contents of the file that Harris Earl had compiled. The secret group seemed like some revival of the Death Eaters, but were far better than the rag-tag amateurs of Voldemort.

The wizard and the two muggle soldiers that were brought into custody had spilled all the beans they held. The secret group was mobilizing. New members, hundreds of them, were being recruited. Muggle and wizard alike, it seemed. The giants were again being contacted and other dark creatures. The group was not leaving any stone unturned. The two soldiers had even more interesting news to reveal though.

Apparently, the leader of the group also commanded a private muggle army numbering more than ten thousand soldiers. This meant that the person was high-ranking in muggle status and yet was also a magic user. However, they did not know his name or anything about him. The one thing that all three knew was that he was fearsome, cruel, cold, dark and much worse than Voldemort.

The wizard had then been locked up in Azkaban and the two muggle soldiers sent to a special prison that was unused until now.

"Well, what could they be planning? Another attempt to rule the world? Hah! The wizard army, I can understand, but to fight us with a muggle army?!" Ron laughed and shook his head.

"Ron! Don't underestimate muggles! They created a weapon that could wipe out entire cities in a second. Plus, they outnumber us AND they have other things up their sleeves. Just because we use magic doesn't mean we will always win against muggles!" she retorted. She was, after all, muggle-born.

"No way, Hermione! We'd kick their asses without even getting hit."

"Humph! You'll see Ronald!"

Ron just shook his head and kept muttering. How could muggles defeat them?! Wizards!?! It was an absurd idea and so he brushed it off his mind.

"Hey, looks at this. It seems that Harris found a few of their safe houses and hideouts.." she broke the silence that had ensued, trailing off as she looked at the map with circles on it.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Kingsley came into the office.

"I heard about what happened. You guy alright?" he asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs in the small office.

Hermione and Ron looked at each other. "Yeah, we're fine really. What I'm more worried about is why this group is going into such great lengths to try to keep themselves a secret. Something's going on, sir. I think they may be planning something," said Hermione in a worried tone.

Kingsley nodded in agreement, though he stayed silent.

"Well, with the way they've been doing things, it seems they have some very competent people. Fighting this group may be harder than fighting Voldemort," said Ron. He long ago dropped the stuttering and cringing at the name. After all, he was dead now.

Kingsley nodded again and seemed to be in deep thought.

A moment of awkward silence passed. Kingsley was still thinking about something while Hermione fidgeted in her seat. Ron began drinking something from the bottle on his desk. No one said anything, though the two aurors were waiting on what Kingsley was thinking about.

"Okay.." he finally spoke, shaking his head from his trance-like train of thought. "What do you know about the secret department that's been set up?"

Hermione cocked her head a little to the side as she tried to remember.

"It's like the DMLE, except better and more dangerous. I heard from my Hit Auror friends that most of them are being transferred to that department in the coming days," Ron replied after a few seconds.

"Yes, Ron! It's just like the muggle elite counter-terrorist units or elite troops. Only the best of the best get in and they're very good. They fight against dangerous groups, usually behind enemy lines or without much backup. They face great odds and are in the thick of things," Hermione paused and then brightened up, "I remember now! It's Auror Special Forces!" she exclaimed.

"ASF.?" said Ron.

"Well, it was better than Ministry Elite Auror Network or Elite Auror Team. Besides, it's not bad," replied Kingsley, scratching his chin.

Ron nodded, it was better than the other choices. "So what are you getting at?" he asked.

Kingsley sat back into his chair, his posture straight, "Well, they've just asked me to be head of that small department. Well, it's not really small, but we won't have as much manpower as with the DMLE," he told thim.

"WHAT! You're...you! When did you know??" Hermione blurted out.

The older auror smiled, "A while back. Anyway, to the matter at hand, I am then entitled to extend to you an invitation to join my department. Unless, of course, you don't want to..." he grinned, trailing off.

Hermione was flabbergasted. She didn't expect to make it, though she did hope to join the new department since it would be a step above the DMLE.

Ron just nodded, his eyes wide as he processed what had just happened. This was his chance. He would bring in more pay if he joined the new department and he would also get better training, he hoped. Though he wasn't sure about that, so he asked.

"Well, just because I extend to you an invitation does not mean you instantly become a member of the ASF. You must first go through rigorous retraining and then after that you will receive numerous tests. Trust me when I tell you they'll be harder than the regular Auror tests. After that, if you've passed and you're okay, then we'll give you your first assignment and then depending on that first assignment will be if you join the ASF or not," he explained. "It won't be a walk in the park, I can tell you that."

Ron nodded again. He knew he wasn't as good a dueler as Hermione, but this was his chance to get much better. He needed to get better. He had to.

"Well, I'm in then," he told the ASF leader, smiling a little. "What about you Hermione?" he turned to his partner.

She bit her lip in thought. She wanted to join, she would benefit so much from it, but she wasn't sure she could make it.

Kingsley, as if hearing her thoughts, spoke, "If you think you won't make it, then think again. I believe you'll be one of the very few first members. No doubts about it."

She looked up, her chocolate brown eyes locking with his dark brown ones. Then she nodded, "Okay, I'll do it."

"Excellent! Start packing your things. I'll inform Pamela about it. Meet me in the lobby when you're ready."

He stood, still smiling, and left the office. In his wake, he left two stunned and yet considerably happy aurors.

* * *

_Two months later, ASF Training Camp, Somewhere in western Britain..._

Hermione ducked and rolled to her right, firing off a few spells as she did so. Multiple spells came at her in answer as she dodged most of them and let the others hit her shield. She winced in pain as she put some weight on her right leg, which had gotten damaged to the point that it hurt a lot if she put too much pressure on it.

However, she had no time to heal it and so just kept dueling.

She threw herself to the ground on her left as a particularly round of nasty spells blasted where she was a mere seconds after the maneuver. She raised her wand, her mind racing.

"Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Diffindio! Reducto! Impedimenta! Stupefy! Accio!" she managed to string out as she rolled to her feet with a blaze of pain.

She cast a numbing charm at her leg as her spells reached their target. Some of them simply smashed onto the strong shield of her opponent while others seemed to have a mind of their own and flick off course and hit somewhere else. Yet her accio seemed to have punctured the shield somehow as her opponent's shoe flew out, heading for her and toppling her opponent at the same time.

Siezing the opportunity, she sent off another string of stunning spells coupled with some more powerful spells she had recently learned and also the ones she already knew. Her opponent didn't stand a chance, having been caught off guard and having fallen down. However, he was still resilient and managed to erect another strong shield that took the brunt of her attacks.

He sprang to life and kicked off his other shoe to have better balance and to avoid what had just happened. He jumped forward, twisting into the air as he cast multiple spells and hexes at her. She twisted, ballerina style, to the right, and dropped to one knee as most of the spells whizzed over her head. The rest slammed harmlessly onto her shield as she poured some more spells at her opponent.

"Stupefy! Incendio! Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Diffindo! Incendio! Incarcerous!" she cried as she rolled away from a couple of stunning and fire spells as well.

He batted away the stunning spells and the disarming one while avoiding the fire spells. However, he was not so lucky with the cutting spell as it broke through his shield and cut him. The thick ropes started curling around him when Hermione started a new string of attacks from a different direction.

Then a new thought came to her, what if...

She vanished with a pop and reappeared on the other side of her opponent as the spells she just cast finally reached him.

He had burned and banished the ropes, and then set up a hasty shield while trying to heal himself. She was getting tired now, but she knew he was even worse so she couldn't relent.

Much to his surprise, she was no longer where she last was and he found her on his other side and had to defend himself quickly as a torrent of spells came at him. He had no time to apparate himself after Hermione began to do so numerous times until she finally overwhelmed the novice Hit Auror, who finally fell to the ground unconscious.

The sound of clapping knocked her out of her concentration as one of the ASF Hit Wizard instructors dismantled the dueling barrier and headed for them. He first healed up and ennervated Hermione's opponent and spoke with him for a bit, before heading for Hermione.

She struggled to keep standing as her leg seemed to be failing her. Deep gashes and cuts ripped her skin and robes as blood spilled everywhere. She looked, horrified, at her wounds and tried to heal them with her magic. Most of the small and moderate wounds closed up but she did not know enough healing spells yet to effectively heal the larger and more dangerous wounds.

The Hit Auror came over, looked at her wound, and with a few swishes of his wand and incantations, her leg was completely healed and the pain was no longer there. There was a slight pain resonance, but she knew it was just an echo of the former pain. She cancelled the numbing charm and stood at attention, as she was required to do in the presence of an instructor.

He smiled at her, exposing rows of brilliant white teeth. His name was Wayne Salfwinn and he was one of the best Hit Aurors in the Ministry. He had very short hair, like that of a soldier, and kept a helmet on at all times. The helmet he wore was some kind of enchanted leather helmet and she had yet to see his full battle gear.

She looked straight ahead of her as he stood still, watching her every move.

"Auror Hermione Jane Granger," he began, "Why did you not use any other more powerful spells? You know you are capable enough," he asked.

"Well sir, first of all I needed to see how good my opponent was and so I had to test him out in the beginning with some minor to moderate spells. Second, I did not want to waste my energy on powerful spells if I knew that I could defeat him with simpler and less magical-costing spells. Third, if I were to face numerous numbers of opponents like him, I would lose much of my magic after about ten duels or less," she replied quickly.

The intructor nodded in agreement, his smile breaking out again. "So tell me, what made you think of apparating to overwhelm your opponent?"

"Well, sir, I had been rolling around, jumping, diving, and dodging while I was dueling and it occured to me that if I wanted to change my angles of attack fast to overwhelm my opponent, then I should just use apparating since it takes less energy, sir," she said, a bit nervously. Would he approve? Her passing to the ASF depended on him and so she was worried.

"Good, well done. One of the simplest duels I've seen so far here and yet it was a good duel. I commend you for it. You will write down a short essay on what you would do in case anti-apparition wards were put up and you could not use apparition to overwhelm opponents. You are dismissed until your classes start," he said.

She saluted in a soldier's fashion, turned on her heel, and left.

As soon as she had turned, she let out a sigh and a smile as she walked to the mess hall. She was hungry and after that she could start on her essay and then plop onto the bed for a nap. Classes didn't start until about two hours anyway. Her steps were light as she hummed herself a tune from a wizarding band called _The Remembralls_.

* * *

Ron, on the other hand, was in a class at that moment. His dueling practice was scheduled after the classes. He had improved considerably and he could very well duel Hermione, though he had yet to beat her. He had grown taller too, if that was anything. Something about training that finally unleashed his final growth spurt. He stood at a formidable 6'8" and his red hair as flaming as ever. 

He broke his quill as he tried writing down the formula to an advanced potion, so he retrieved another from his bag. He was suprisingly getting pretty adept at potions, though he would never be a master, he showed good skill - especially without Snape breathing down his neck.

He smiled as he thought of his upcoming dueling practice. He had a grossly expanded repertoire of spells since they first started training and he was much more confident now. He smiled as the bell rang and the other aurors and hit aurors in the room started to leave. His steps were light as he readied himself for his duel.

* * *

_Somewhere in Tripoli, Libya..._

The streets were choked with cars as the noonday heat beat down on the city. People bustled along the sidewalks as the angry blaring of horns and death threats of drivers echoed through the air. This, accompanied with the noise of the city and the chatter of the people, drowned out most sound.

Three men wearing dark robes slipped into an alleyway unnoticed, leaving the large throng of people on the sidewalk. The sun didn't reach as well here since the high buildings served to blot it out, but they did not seem to care.

On a day that was nearing the nineties in temperature, these men seemed out of place picking black as their color of choice. No one seemed to notice though and so they went on their way. Going through a few more alleys and side streets, they arrived at a relatively small building. It used to be a shop before but had closed down. Wooden planks covered the windows and doors.

One of them said something however and, unnoticed by the small number of people on the sidestreet, the planks disappeared and the door opened inward. One would have been surprised at this and probably fallen unconscious had they seen this event, but the two people that did see the occurence weren't surprised in the least bit.

"That's the tenth time in four days that they've gone to that building," commented one of them. He was a bit short, only about 5'5". He was a Libyan citizen, though his family had moved to England when he was eight. He had then gone to find out that he was a wizard and eventually ended up as an auror.

He had a thick black moustache and a rough and short beard. He had curly black hair and brown eyes that were unwavering and cold. His callsign was _Curly_, due to his hair, and he didn't mind being called that. It was better than some other names suggested to him.

The other was a female, Swedish in fact. She had dirty blonde hair and dark gray eyes. She was a little taller than him, something that unsettled the Libyan slightly. She was also an auror, having gone to England many years past to finish her schooling. Her callsign was _Swede_.

They had shown promise and so were sent on international missions, one of which they were handling now.

A conspicuous and secretive group had arisen and they had taken wind of one of their hideouts here. So far, they had only managed to see three of their members, who always went to this building every now and then. Frustrated that they could not observe closer, they had been trying to come up with a plan to try to get in without getting noticed. Something that was hard to do, given that this group was very good.

She sighed in frustration, "Yeah, and this is the tenth time we've ended up just watching the building and not getting to see what they actually do inside!"

He looked at Swede, "Well, why don't we just blast in and see! Or maybe try to sneak in next time while they are walking through the door," he told her.

She rolled her eyes, "I told you, we are not supposed to blow our cover. Also, they probably have wards that detect if there is someone unwanted there," she replied matter-of-factly.

He grunted. But before he could reply, he felt a tingle in his mind. He grabbed Swede and threw them on the floor as an explosion rocked the wall they had been hiding behind. Rocks and other debris fell on them as the dust settled.

"Thanks," she whispered, before they sprung into action, wands at the ready.

Apparently, they had been spotted.

The three had reappeared outside the building, but this time they were accompanied by five other black-robed figures. All had wands in their hands and steel helmets that hid their faces.

"Give up now and we shall spare you...somewhat," one of them hissed.

Swede laughed and then fired off a round of complex spells as Curly set up multiple barriers and shields around them.

The group sprung into action and soon some of the black cloaks disappeared, materializing around them. That was when the anti-apparition ward settled on top of them, rendering them unable to escape.

"Shit!" cursed Curly as he weaved around some spells, his steps light. His wand hand was swishing at a fast rate, but the black cloaks responded in kind. They were good. Well, some of them were. He had already downed two black cloaks, one with a severe cutting spell to the neck, beheading him. The other he had crushed his bones and then burned him.

Swede had taken down one so far and it seemed she was facing the better half of the group. She was hard-pressed and eventually resorted to just defending herself. Her magic was slowly depleting as she desperately fended off attacks from four black cloaks.

Curly hissed as a bludgeoning spell hit his knee and dislocated it, leaving a big bruise as well. He fell to the ground and yet in a flash had numbed and righted the knee while raising his shields again.

It was pointless, one more black cloak fell but the others fought even harder. Swede was knocked off her feet by a tripping charm and as she tried to get up, she was thrown into a wall with a powerful stunning spell. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

Curly screamed in rage and fougth back furiously, his small and yet nimble body dodging most of the spells while his shield took whatever he could not avoid. He was slowly losing his energy, but not before downing another black cloak with a few explosive spells and a ripping curse that tore through the man like a hot knife through butter. The three black cloaks they had been following all these days raised their wands, A transparent red snake slithered around his leg and slowly squeezed, burning the flesh as it did so. Distracted by the intense pain and unable to do anything else, the last thing he saw was the final moments of the duel as three green bolts flew at him and his life was no more.

The three figures looked at each other. One of them walked over to the fallen auror, spat on him, and then walked over to the unconscious one. The other two looked around at their fallen comrades with sadness.

"No matter, they fought bravely. However, we must inform the lieutenant of this matter," one of the two spoke.

"Go then. We shall go to the other safehouse. The Lybian Ministry of Magic will be here in a matter of seconds," the other replied coolly.

The first black cloak bowed as the second one took down the anti-apparition ward. The first black cloak then disapparated with a crack.

The third had already picked up Swede and walked over to the first black cloak.

"Bring her in for interrogation," the second black cloak said. The third nodded slightly and disapparated as well.

The remaining black cloak looked about him, his steel helmet glittering under the sun. Five fallen comrades. He sighed, they needed to train better, though he knew it was because these wizards they were fighting were very professional and very good. Too good for the five recently killed recruits. Well, there will be more, he told himself, they will be more.

He disapparated with a crack and just before he did so, he heard the distinctive multiple cracks of the Lybian Magic Enforcement Agency.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Reviews please, as always. Harry's story will be unfolding in the next few chapters (so we won't see Ron and Hermione for a bit of a while). 


	6. Quest's End Potter Mansion

**NOTES: I do hope you like this. ANY comments at ALL are welcome. I prefer that it be constructive and helpful to my writing. Also, SUGGESTIONS are welcome!**

_Blink_

**STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter story, JK Rowling does. I am merely expanding on her world.**

* * *

**Chasing a Shadow**

**Quest's End; Potter Mansion**

**

* * *

**

_200 miles northeast of Igarka, Central Russia..._

The storm was getting stronger. Dark clouds hung low and threatened to burst forth. A lone dark figure on one of the mountains looked up at the sky. He seemed unworried about the coming blizzard.

Snow covered the Russian landscape as the figure seemed to get onto something that looked like a broom. The figure then sped into the air with such speed to match any fighter plane, yet the figure slowed and circled the mountain, as if searching for something.

The dark clouds obscured much of the upper half of the mountain, but the figure seemed more intent on the lower half. It sped around and around, constantly stopping to check something, until it finally sped down towards the mountain.

The figure hopped off the broom and it instantly shrunk. After putting it into a pocket, the figure then proceeded forward, stopping in front of the mouth of a very small crack in the side of the mountain. It was about six feet wide and a few dozen feet high. If not for the snow, it would have been impossible to find.

The figure raised a hand and made a sweep of the air. A field of energy appeared and it crackled before disappearing. Puzzled, the figure took something out of its pocket and it enlarged itself, becoming a rather thick and ancient-looking tome.

Opening of its own accord, the pages of the book flipped rapidly until it stopped abruptly. The wind was starting to pick up, but the figure seemed not to notice.

"Aha!" the figure exclaimed, shutting the tome and shrinking it before putting it back into a pocket. The figure raised its hand again, but this time muttered some incantation.

The field of energy over the crack came to life, glowing a bright green and then turning yellow, before collapsing visibly. The figure sweeped its hand again but nothing occured. Satisfied, the figure moved forth into the crack of the mountain.

* * *

A bright orb suddenly came into existence. It glowed red and lit the path inside the mountain. The figure peered into the darkness ahead, and then without doing anything the globe brightened significantly. 

Smiling, the figure walked on, careful not to trip on any of the loose rocks that had fallen on the carefully carved path. Multiple runes lined the walls of the stone path, though the figure paid no attention after reading the first few lines. They spoke only of a riddle that the figure already knew about.

It seemed a long walk, but after a while two large stone doors came into view. They barred the passageway and were masterfully cut. Runes and symbols covered every space of the doors. However, the one's that were important were, of course, at the very middle.

_To unlock the doors of knowledge  
One must first have the key  
To open the doors of knowledge  
One must have the ring of stone_

The figure smiled and reached into a pocket. Pulling out two things that automatically expanded into their full sizes, the red globe of light illuminated them and revealed them to be a key and a ring carved of a strange type of stone.

Waving a hand at the doors, numerous energy fields, lights, and wards shimmered slightly. Nodding, the figure raised a hand and any dust on the doors was blown away in a flurry of wind.

Robes untouched, the figure saw the keyhole and inserted the golden key and twisted it. A loud and large mechanism sprung to life and a few of the energy fields crackled. Then, the figure put on the ring and using the hand with the ring, pushed the doors open.

The stone doors swung inward and a blast of air greeted the figure, who was not at all affected by it. Without waiting, the figure then stepped through the doors, the red globe of light following in its wake. As soon as the figure stepped inside, the ring glowed and

The light from the torches revealed an enormous cavern. But, unlike any other cavern, this cavern was made with magic. The walls smooth and the floor as well. Only the ceiling seemed untouched by man as various sizes of stalactites hung from the ceiling.

The cavern was roughly the size of the quidditch pitch. The one thing that caught the figure's attention was the far end of the cavern, where the walls had been cut into bookshelves. Tomes and books of various sizes filled every inch of the shelves and the figure briskly approached them.

When the figure was about halfway, it stopped and the figure straightened. It turned swiftly.

"I can feel you. Reveal yourself!" the figure boomed in a deep voice, echoing throughout the cavern.

A mist started to appear as another figure shimmered into existance. The figure was a ghost of an old man who had a thick but short beard and many wrinkles. He wore strange wizard robes and Harry attributed it to the Russian wizarding dress of the time.

"Who are you?" the figure asked the ghost.

"I am the creator of this place and ultimately the guardian of its treasure," the ghost responded, bowing slightly.

"Then you are Lord Nicholaus Stratsnevski?"

"Indeed, young. Now, to the matter at hand," replied Nicholaus in his thick Russian accent. Surprisingly, he was pretty fluent in English and Harry understood what he said.

"Before you access my library, you must first prove yourself worthy enough. The ring and key alone will not suffice. You must fight. There will be three rounds, one harder than the last. If you stand victorious at the end, then you may pass into my library of great knowledge. If you do not, well," he chuckled, "you do not."

Harry gripped his wand tighter, "Very well then. Please begin. I am on a short timetable."

The ghost shook his head and said something in Russian before he disappeared. The mist lifted and the torches grew brighter. A large stone slab slid down to cover the entrance to the library, making the cavern shake violently.

Harry had no trouble keeping his balance, though did find it annoying. All those years and months of training had made him possibly the strongest wizard out there, or at least one of the strongest. He still had much room to improve.

Suddenly, a stone door opened on one side of the cavern. Harry had not seen it and so took a step back to see what would come out of it.

Hordes of skeletons wearing thick, dusty armor and wielding sharp blades flooded into the cavern. They hissed unnaturally and Harry took the time to raise more shields around him, since he always had some on.

Before he uttered a spell, he suddenly thought it would be a good time to practice his swordsmanship. Tucking his wand away, Harry quickly took out the sword of Gryffindor. Large gems dotted the golden hilt and sparkled in the light of the torches as the eternally sharp silver blade itself gleamed proudly.

Grinning, Harry swung it around him in quick, fluid motions. It had been too long since he last used the sword.

There were a lot of the skeleton soldiers now. Taking a quick count, Harry saw there were more than a hundred of them. He would definitely have to use some magic at least. He gripped the sword tighter and got into one of his stances.

The first group of thirty skeletons charged at him, howling eeriely. The first skeleton came into sword range and brought its sword up, ready to slash down. But it's head was no longer there as Harry swiped swiftly, cutting both arms off by the elbow and beheading the skeleton. The soldier then became dust as the next few skeletons came at him.

Swinging fast to parry two strokes aimed at his legs, he swung his sword up, kicked one of the skeletons in the chest, and hacked at the other one.

The skeleton he kicked erupted into a cloud of powder as the force of his kick broke its chest apart. The second skeleton was cut clean across it's chest as well.

More arrived and Harry expertly blocked and then backhanded a skeleton, sending it into the sword of the soldier behind it and making it explode into dust. Twirling the blade and slashing to and fro, Harry stayed light on his feet, as he had been taught. Less than three minutes later, all thirty of the skeleton soldiers that had first attacked were just dust in the wind. Literally.

Harry got into another stance, this one different and allowed him greater speed and dexterity on his first few attacks, and waited for the next group. The skeletons then attacked en masse, all one hundred plus of them. Thinking quickly, he held out his left hand, "Sectusempra!" he screamed.

However, instead of cutting just one target, he controlled and manipulated the magic and made it cut through a group of skeletons. Twenty of them blew up in a cloud of dust. He mentally thanked Dumbledore for allowing him to tap into this very rare ability. Dumbledore had it too, but was not as proficient. Harry had no time to think about that as the first five skeletons swiped at him.

He jumped back and then immediately lunged forward as their swords hit the ground. Parrying blows left and right, ducking and rolling, and kicking and punching, he made a hole through their ranks.

He felt pain along his right shoulder as a sword cut him from behind. Thankfully, it wasn't deep as his special armor robes took the blunt of the blow. He stabbed behind him with the sword and was rewarded with a cloud of dust. Jumping back, he lifted both hands and started casting multiple spells to cut down their numbers.

Soon enough, there were only about twenty left and they banded together for the final attack. Frowning, he remembered that he had forgotten to put on a shield against physical attacks. He did so, careful to make sure that the shield was only a few inches off his skin since he wanted to approach his targets and close in enough to use his sword.

He reached to his shoulder and winced slightly. Blood trickled from the wound and he hissed as he assessed the damage. It was nothing serious, really, but it hurt. He put his hand on the wound.

"Sano," he whispered, and a faint white glow emenated from his hand. Taking away his hand, he saw that the wound was fixed and smiled. He then fixed his robes with a quickly modified "Episkey" spell and then twirled the sword to test the shoulder. It was fine.

Smiling, he beckoned to the skeleton soldiers, who seemed to hesitate, but then charged.

Less than five minutes later, he defeated the final skeleton soldier and just as he did so, another stone door opened. This time, on the opposite side of the cavern.

Another large group of skeletons appeared, but this time they carried staves instead of swords.

"Oh, brother," whispered Harry as he knew they were all magicians.

There were fifty of them. There was only one of him. Then again, he was very powerful, but it still made him a bit nervous since he still did not know how strong they were - especially if all fifty battled him.

That was when they attacked. Without warning. They screamed their eerie battle cry and then flung curses at him. Curses he did not recognize, nor did he really want to.

He let what he could not dodge hit his shields but the rest he tried to avoid. He rolled, jumped, ducked, swayed, ran and bent. All the while he was flinging curses and spells back at them.

"Reducto!" he yelled at the ground close to about ten of them. The ground exploded up and outwards as sharp stones tore through the magi skeletons.

"Diffindo! Incendio! Reducto!" he was getting a little out of breath from all his exertion and his incantations.

Three maroon spells broke through his weakened shield and he flicked them away. He dodged a few other curses, but didn't see the one that had been cast to follow close to the floor.

It swung up a few feet away and he turned on extinct. It hit his side, flinging him back and making him spin as he did so. He sprawled onto the ground and curses under his breath.

He stood angrily, his light armor again saving him. It was a nasty wound and it hurt like hell, but his anger dulled the pain as his magic flowed through him. The skeletons paused and then resumed attacking.

He stepped aside to dodge a couple of curses and batted away two more that he could not avoid. He hastily set up another shield and began his counterattack. A few minutes later, he had already cleaned himself up and healed himself.

The cavern suddenly rumbled deeply and the floor shook.

"Wha-?" Harry said but he did not say anything, his gaze directed to the cavern ceiling.

He had not noticed it before. It was a large circle, about the size of half the cavern, and he was standing a little ways out from under it. He saw the carefully engraved figure of runes and that of a dragon, and he gulped.

"Please don't tell me-" but it had already started opening.

A savage roar erupted from the opening and the dragon flung itself onto the cavern floor with a large boom. It crashed onto the floor and seemed to shake the entire mountain. It wasn't that old, Harry commented to himself.

It was just about twice as big as the Hungarian Horntail he had in the Triwizard Tournament a while back. This dragon, however, truly looked formidable.

The dragon was a dark muddy brown in color and it's eyes were bright yellow.

It had numerous sharp teeth. _Too _many. It had very long claws that looked as if it could tear through the cavern walls if the dragon tried to. Four large horns curled out from near the top of the dragon's skull and spikes lines the spine of the dragon. Its tail seemed like a huge club covered with numerous smaller spikes. However, Harry knew they were just as sharp as everything else on the dragon.

He gulped. Facing Voldemort was one thing, but facing a dragon was totally and inexplicably different. First off, dragon's were highly immune to most magic. Second, they could breathe fire. Third, they were very, very, very dangerous. And fourth, Harry had never killed one before. Ever.

He gulped again, though he couldn't since his throat and mouth had long since gone dry from staring at the large beast.

Its head came down to his level, though still a few dozen feet away. It eyed him and then opened its mouth, letting loose a roar of challenge that shook the very foundations of the mountain.

Harry bet that the roar could have been heard all the way to England. He shook his head. He had to come up with a plan, fast.

'Okay, so dragon's claws, teeth, and tail are dangerous and would probably kill me in one go. So got to avoid that.'

He paused, he didn't know what to do. He vaguely remembered that Hermione had given him a book on dragons, but since he thought he didn't need it, he had left it at the mansion.

'Stupid.'

The dragon breathed in deeply and Harry suddenly knew what it was going to do. He threw a reducto down on the ground and used one of the rocks as a shield, transfiguring it into a large titanium steel shield that stood ten feet high.

The dragon let loose a torrent of molten hot fire and Harry thanked the gods he was a master at transfigurations. Transfiguring rock was one of the hardest things to do and most people couldn't achieve such a feat.

The dragon kept pouring fire onto the shield, which was already melting fast from the intense heat. However, before it completely melted, the dragon stopped and then just roared again.

It swiped at the shield, which was soft from the heat, and broke it apart, sending the pieces off to the side of the cavern. The dragon advanced on Harry, who was still wondering what he could do.

Well, he first had to set up his highest shields and barriers, which he did in a matter of seconds. His fear and adrenaline pumping in his blood helping him concentrate and also releasing some reserves of magic to help strengthen him.

The dragon quickly tried to swipe at him with the other claw, but only swiped air as Harry jumped into the air and assisted himself with magic. He had an idea of what to do. The dragon roared and then sent a torrent of fire at him, which he quickly avoided. Thinking fast, he teleported onto the back of the dragon, which looked around in confusion. Harry thanked Dumbledore mentally again for having taught him how to teleport - which was not affected by any anti-apparition wards or other wards for that matter.

That was how Dumbledore usually appeared quickly at many of the incidents in Hogwarts, though he did say he could not teleport into Hogwarts or out from it. He could only teleport within it. Harry had to look into that later.

He focused his magic and then pointed his hand at the dragon's back, "REDUCTO!" he cried.

The spell exploded onto the target back, but Harry sensed much of the magic in the spell disappated, leaving only barely enough to hurt the dragon. It roared in anger rather than pain and quickly turned its head, its long neck allowing for the 180 degree motion.

It opened its jaw and snapped at him, its jaw slamming hard on air as he teleported again, this time on the head of the dragon. He fired a modified blinding charm on the dragon, and it roared in confusion, rearing its head high and throwing Harry into the air. The dragon swiped at him and unluckily, the tip of one claw caught Harry's leg.

Pain seared through Harry as he fell hard onto the floor. He heard a sick crack and knew he had broken his arm somehow. He had not planned on getting hit. Still confused and angry, the dragon sent jets of fire into random areas, luckily Harry was too close for the dragon to think of blasting that area.

He looked at his arm first and scanned it with a spell. He apparently broke and dislocated his elbow and broke both his ulna and radius. He quickly fixed it with a spell he learned from an African master healer and then looked at his leg.

He paled. His leg was almost torn off. Blood was everywhere and he was slowly starting to see stars and losing some of his sight. He fired up a few of the healing spells that he had learned, which weren't many, and tried to make them stronger by infusing them with more magic. The dragon didn't hear him because it was still roaring and flailing about, shaking the cavern, but it was bound to find him soon.

He reached into his pocket and finished one of his blood-replenishing potions and then gave himself an adrenaline boost with a simple spell he learned from Moody. It helped ease the pain and put him back in action.

His leg was almost completely healed, there was still some damage he could not fully repair here and there and he could feel it wasn't entirely correct healing, but it would have to do until he could heal it under better conditions.

He stood, wincing slightly, and faced the dragon. That was when he remembered that the underside of a dragon was a weak point, next to the head of course. It had stopped roaring and flailing about, however, and stayed completely still.

Harry moved forward a little and then the dragon twitched its head in his direction.

'Great, it can still hear and smell me,' he thought.

He quickly teleported under the dragon and right before a jet of hot fire engulfed the area he had recently stood on. He sighed and then took out the sword of Gryffindor. He took it and with all his might, he plunged it into the underside of the dragon and then pushed it sideways to cut the softer underside.

The dragon roared in agony as Harry finally ripped the sword out. Dragon blood was pouring down and Harry thought he could harvest some dragon parts and blood from this one once he was done.

It then did something Harry never expected. It lay down while he was under it. Harry looked up as the underside fell onto him...

* * *

_Flashback_

He had felt a little guilty at leaving like abruptly and not telling his friends, but the book that he had received had spurred him to action. If he did not act fast, the world would plunge into chaos and war. Well, it would still do that anyway, according to the letter.

The letter had been sent along with the book, a thick tome to be exact. It was old and ancient, but within its pages lay instructions on what to do. It was as if the book knew everything, well, not everything, but enough. It had first sent him to Canada, where he traveled to the most remote northern areas of the country. He had literally lived on the ice. There, he had found something so unexpected it had shocked him to utter speechlesseness.

It was a castle. A castle on an iceberg so close to the north pole that the high temperature was well below freezing. Inside lay many wards, barriers, tricks, traps, and magical guards of the castle. However, they stood no match for Harry and in the end, he had retrieved what the book had said lay in one of its treasure holds.

It was a golden key. It had the rune of knowledge engraved upon its head and Harry did not know what its significance was, but knew that he could find out later.

After that, he had traveled south, to the United States, and deep into the heart of Texas. The place he went to was somewhere between San Antonio and Houston and a little more to the west of that area.

He was looking for an abandoned magical town and found it after a few weeks of searching the area thoroughly. It had been buried under more than a mile of sand, but Harry's magic coupled with the fact that wizards were the only ones that could see it had helped him to uncovered the lost town of _Naratovee_, according to the book. There, he had found a few very ancient books and tomes that were very useful and most likely the only copies ever made. He had no time to waste reading them yet, though, and so he took them back to his mansion, surprising everyone there.

Bruce had wanted to go with him, having had to do odd jobs for the last twenty years, but Harry refused. It was too dangerous and he would work faster alone. Also, he HAD to do it alone. He then told Bruce that he should join the Ministry and try to become a Hit Auror, since it might help him become much better. That was five and a half years ago.

After that, he had to go to the southernmost tip of Chile. It was also the southernmost tip of South America and he had to find a city that had gone underwater in a large earthquake long ago. Months of fruitless search ended when he finally found the city under so much rock and coral he would not have known if he had not glimpsed the paved streets and one of the tall buildings.

He found a thick and heavy chest inside one of the collapsed buildings and it was what he was searching for. He also dropped this off at the mansion and he smiled when Bruce said his auror training was going well. He was very good at it, apparently. The house elves were keeping the mansion clean and actually were sad that they had not much to do. Dobby tried to ask if Harry could stay a while, but Harry had told him that he would have to wait for some time.

That was about five years ago.

Then the next three years he had gone to Morocco, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia. He had created a seperate room for all the items he found on his journey and it was quickly being filled.

Two years ago, he had gone to Madagascar in search of some apparently very rare plants that were about to die since the wilderness was taking over them. He brought them back and planted them in his already extensive garden. The book had said that the plants' use would be made known later. He had flipped the page and moved on.

The next few months were spent in Zambia, Africa, where a very small local magical tribe was slowly dying off. He had helped them though and, according to the book, it was needed to receive some tutoring and some books as well. Sure enough, the village elder had thanked him and given him a small book in which was written much of their magic. The village healer had then taught him some very useful healing spells.

Then he went off to India and retreived a few more objects there. The final year had been spent from Australia, to Japan, and to China as well.

In Australia, he retreived some other objects and in Japan and China he was required to study every martial art. He showed great proficiency at it and all his masters were awed by him. He left prematurely, however, and was set on returning later since he just wanted to finish his quest. The last piece he retreived was the stone ring, hidden in some obscure dungeon near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, which was at the northernmost part.

Then he arrived in Russia not too long ago, searching almost every mountain for some months, before finally finding the hall of knowledge.

'All that for nothing,' Harry thought as the belly of the beast crashed down on him and darkness surrounded him.

* * *

"Ugh..." he said. 

The wound that he made had swallowed him up, preventing him from getting squashed. However, he was literally inside the belly of the beast and he wasn't liking it one bit. His shields were flickering from the constant contact, especially with the dragon's really acidic stomach, but his shields held.

He summoned a ball of light as before and looked around.

He was completely wet from a mixture of blood and other liquids. He was very well into the dragon and Harry shivered at that. His sword had cut the stomach of the dragon and acid was leaking out of it. Peering inside, Harry immediately recoiled from the stench that suddenly assailed his nostrils.

He wondered if Charlie had ever been in this situation and he highly doubted that. Shaking his head, he concentrated on getting out and killing the dragon, while leaving it intact enough to harvest some of it, of course.

"Well, here goes nothing," he said and reached for his magic, "Avada Kedavra!"

He had raised his hand to a pretty empty part of the stomach and let the spell off there. The entire body of the dragon convulsed, and the movement of the organs slowed somewhat, though there was still some energy left in them. That was when the dragon fell on its side and Harry came out into the world again.

He immediately cleansed himself with a quick "Tergeo". He banished any other excess liquids or stuff that had not come away from him. The dragon was dead, that was for sure, unless it could keep completely still and not breathe and at the same time stay alive while losing so much blood. There was literally a pool of blood that came up to Harry's ankles.

He levitated himself to avoid the blood and cleaned his shoes with another "Tergeo" spell. He approached the dragon and then proceeded to take some of its parts for further use. He frowned, it was not nice nor appealing work, but it had to be done lest the uses for it be wasted. He also collected as much untainted and uncontaminated dragon blood as he could, which filled quite a lot of bottles.

After the grisly business was done, he approached the stone gate that blocked the library. Intending to blast it open, he raised his hand, but stopped when he saw the mist appear again and the ghost became visible.

"Well done, Lord Gryffindor. You are, indeed, most worthy to access my library. A pity that the dragon died, though I see you've been busy with it," Nicholaus said, chuckling deeply as he eyed the body of the dragon.

"It was most difficult but I managed," said Harry, smiling.

The ghost nodded, "Very well then, Lord Gryffindor. You can take whatever books you wish. Actually, you should take ALL the books herein, for now that my duty is done and that I have seen the man to whom my priceless library will go to, I can rest in peace," Nicholaus said, a bit of sadness in his voice and yet he seemed cheerful.

"Thank you. I will use the knowledge contained here well."

"I know you will, Lord," said the ghost, bowing.

"Wait!" cried Harry, before Nicholaus disappeared forever.

"Yes?"

"If you see someone named Sirius Black and if you see my parents, James and Lily Potter, please tell them that I am alive and well and that I love them so much," said Harry, squirming slightly at the request and looking down at the floor.

The ghost smiled, "I shall tell them, though I have no doubt they alreay know what you told me. Farewell, young Lord Gryffindor," and with that, Nicholaus was no more.

The stone cavern rumbled and shook as the stone gate rose up, opening the library. Harry walked in and tranfigured one of the rocks into a large chest. He proceeded to retrieve all the books and shrink them, levitating them into the trunk.

It took him more than an hour, even with magic, but in the end he had finished. Two full chests of books left with him after he made them weightless and shrunk the chests themselves.

As soon as he stepped out, he shivered. He quickly put on heavy shields against the wind and snow and also a good warming charm. His Thunderbolt 8000, the fastest broom on the market, well, the fastest one on the market six years ago, appeared in his hand. He did not have the power to teleport to his mansion. He flew west, careful to put on his strongest concealment spells and disillusionment charm. He long ago scrambled his magical signature and aura so as to make him untraceable unless he wanted to be traced.

It was going to be a somewhat long flight, so he set the broom on auto and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

_Eight hours later..._

He was somewhere over France. He rubbed his eyes blearily and looked around him, however he could not see where he was since thick clouds smothered him, so he took of the auto on the broom and went below the clouds.

He looked around. All he saw was the French countryside. However, he did catch a glimpse of the Eiffel tower off in the horizon to his west, which meant he was going in the right direction.

He stopped his broom and teleported soundlessly. He was close enough to do so.

The mansion was still intact. The hundreds of layers of wards and barriers were intact, and the mansion itself didn't look as if anything bad happened. Harry relaxed and flew to the front entrance, flying over the grounds. He opened the door and instantly, three pops sounded. His wand in his one hand and his other hand raised up, he stopped himself from casting a spell when he sensed it was the house elves.

"Oh! We is very sorry, Master Harry! We didn't mean to alarm you!" apologized Mundy.

"Yes, we very sorry, Master. Greatest wizard of all time," added Lopa.

"Wills you forgive us?" asked Dobby as all three house elves looked down in shame.

Harry chuckled, his wand disappearing in a flash and his hand lowering, "Of course! And how many times have I told you to just call me Harry? I am no more your master than your friend," he replied, much to the enthusiasm of his house elves.

"Are you finished with your great journey, Ma- Harry?" Dobby asked, hope in his eyes, "We having not much to do anymore. We being very sad."

Harry looked down at the house elf, still smiling, "Yes, I believe I'm done for now. I'll be staying for a while as I train using the things I retreived," he told them.

The elves excitedly came to life and then told him that they had a feast waiting for him in the dining hall.

"Has any news come from Bruce?"

"Oh, sir Bruce came by not too long ago, Master," Lopa winced a little at saying the last word, "...but the differences in the time between Potter Mansion and the outside world is making it hard for me to say."

"Hold on, there's a time difference?"

"Yes, Mas..." she stopped, "Harry!"

Harry smiled and shook his head, "Would you mind telling me about this time difference?"

"Well, I is not sure about it but I will take you to one who knows!" and with that she grabbed his hand and snapped her fingers.

Harry felt pretty good about the elvish teleportation actually, which it was since they could go through any wards save the most powerful. It wasn't as bad as apparating since there was always the feeling of getting squeezed while doing it. It made Harry uncomfortable, which was why he thanked Dumbledore for teaching him about teleportation.

Lopa walked over to a set of oak doors that opened of their own accord and beckoned for Harry to enter.

Harry walked in and found many portraits in the room, most of which looked at him while the rest didn't see him enter. Gasps of surprise echoed throughout the hall as the paintings recognized him.

"My God, you must be Harry!" a rather large picture said aloud.

Harry turned around to see who it was and there, next to the door, stood what looked to be an older version of his father. His heart stopped and his eyes widened.

"F-Fa-Father?" he croaked feebly.

The old man frowned and shook his head, "I'm afraid not, Harry. You see, you're father didn't want a portrait of him made. I am your grandfather, Harry."

Harry nodded. He knew it was too good to be true. Though he was very happy and excited to see that he still had family, in a sense.

"Pleased to meet you, grandfather...?"

"Oh, excuse me. Where have my manners gone off to? Sir Henry Rowen Gryffindor Potter, at your service," he bowed with a flourish. Indeed, it seemed strange since he wore expensive and dazzling red robes with gold thread. He had a head of light brown hair intermixed with white and a beard that went down to his chest and was similar to his hair in colors.

He wore half-moon glasses just like Dumbledore and eyed him with a little twinkle from his steel gray eyes. He had som wrinkles to show his age, but other than that, he seemed fairly young for a grandfather.

As if sensing his thoughts, Henry spoke, "This portrait was made when I was about seventy. It was the first I had made. There are others, but I believe this is the only one that was saved during the first war. A pity, really," said Henry.

He looked good for seventy, but then again he was a wizard after all.

"So, what brought you here?" asked the old man.

"Well, I asked Lopa about the time difference that I was unaware of. Can you explain it to me, sir?"

The man looked affronted, "Harry! You are to call me either grandpa, grandfatherm, or Henry. None of this sir business. Besides, isn't that what you tell your house elves?" he said with a grin.

Harry smiled, a bit embarassed, and nodded, "Sure thing - er, grandpa."

"Now, let me see. From what I remember, my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, the first Potter I believe, made it so that we could spend more time doing the things we wanted inside here and not waste our time outside. This was to 'maximize productivity' and also to 'strengthen the Potter family'. I believe that this was his choice of words on the matter. He was a great wizard and specialized greatly in wards, barriers, charms, and complex spells such as the Time-Difference spell. The spell, incantation, and formula for his original spell has long since been lost, but there are other less effective ones that were made.

Anyway, as far as I know, the time difference isn't drastic unless you want it to be. However, the most you can change the time difference to is one week to here to one day out there. Right now, I believe it's on a two Potter days to one normal day ratio," he finished.

Harry nodded, surprised. He could spend months in here and only spend a week 'normally'. Excited, he asked how he could change the difference.

"Well, the switch is on the far end of this hallway. You're going to need the password though, which is: 'Rubber Duck.'"

"You're joking," Harry said, beginning to laugh.

"What! It was a great invention of the time! I'll have you know that I never took a bath without at least some of them swimming around and quacking. Very amusing, bec-" but he stopped and crossed his arms as Harry fell on the floor, laughing.

"My word, what's so funny? It's true!"

But that only made Harry laugh even more. Giving up, Henry just glared at his grandson until he stopped laughing.

"Sorry. Couldn't help it, really."

"Humph," replied the portrait, though he smiled.

"Well, would you like to join me in the dining hall? I would love some company, grandpa. I've... I've been away and alone for a long time," he asked, hesitantly.

"Why, of course! However, I should think you want to meet your other ancestors. Now, take me down and levitate me alongside you," said Henry.

Harry did as told and soon his grandfather's portrait was hovering in the air next to him.

"Now, let's go meet your other relatives."

* * *

_Dining Hall, Potter Mansion_

After having adjusted the time difference so that 7 Potter days would pass for one outside day, Harry collected his other relatives and brought them to the dining hall. All in all, there were a bunch of them.

There was Michael John Gryffindor Potter, Henry's father. Then there was Shean Applesauce Potter, Henry's uncle. After him there was Shean's wife, Melanie Ravenclaw Potter and then Johnathan Anthony Gryffindor Potter, Michael's father and thus Henry's grandfather.

Then there was Kevin Weathers Potter, who was Michael's father. After him there were the twins Alfred and Anton Potter. Then Susan Weasley Potter, who's name surprised Harry greatly. She was Alfred's wife. Anton's wife was Emilane Hollis Potter. Then the last was Jason Zabini Potter.

Harry had greeted them all and had answered their barrage of questions, most of which he answered fully. The others he kept some things secret or decided not to tell them the truth at all. He had some things to keep, after all, even from his own family.

"You have endured such hardship and turmoil, Harry, yet I am proud of you. We all are," said Henry, tears in his eyes.

They all agreed to that and that was when Lopa, Mundy, and Dobby appeared, carrying trays of food, a plate for Harry, and a set of utensils.

Then Harry ate hungrily, as if famished, and copied Ron much in the exact same way he ate the last time they were together.

The faces around him were full of happiness and amusement as they watched him or conversed with each other. After a rather long time, he finished eating, and pushed back his seat.

"Wow, that's the most I've eaten so far," he remarked with a smile as he rubbed his stomach.

Then Henry turned to them all and nodded. Everyone became silent and turned to Harry, who was looking back at them curiously.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, Harry. From what you've told us, this new group that's risen may just be worse than Voldemort. I believe they were under Grindelwald long ago. They had the same kind of organization, clothing, and procedure. It also sounds like they've gotten a lot better and a lot bigger over the years. I knew we never fully hunted down the pigs. Alas, they will prove a formidable enemy to the world. They were, after all, the ones that trained all the SS legions of Hitler's army. That is why they were such elite troops," explained Henry.

Harry raised his eyebrows, he had not thought that this might have been an old group already. He had originially thought them to be a new radical group that sprung to existence from the remaining Death Eaters and Voldemort supporters. Apparently he was wrong.

"So, while you were eating and were oblivious to us, we've come to a unanimous decision. Yes, you may be quite adept at magic and have good skills, however your training is extremely incomplete. Albus Dumbledore and the others who trained you only trained you for war, which is understandable. The path of training you took was short and was the fastlane on the long expressway to becoming an Archmage, which you have a potential to become. However, this is in the past and you will need all of your power to fight the Dark Order. Yes, that is their name Harry.

We will now train you since we are masters ourselves and since we have so much more experience and knowledge. Once we are finished, you may yet begin to rival even Merlin or Godric himself. Perhaps. Now, you have no choice in the matter, you will- no, you must accept. If you do not, then the world will fall hard and may not pick itself up again," he said sadly and yet strongly, his gaze unwavering on Harry who stared at him with a mixture of emotions.

Happiness for the love they are showing, excitement for the training he was about to get, love for his remaining family, sadness for more war and death, anger at being the saviour once again, and jealousy of normal wizards. Yet he knew they were right. He had no choice. He had to lead and help the world against the Dark Order.

He sighed in frustration and anger, "Why is it that when we knock down an evil dark lord, another one springs up again? Will there be no peace??" he asked them.

They looked at each other, sadness in their eyes. "I am afraid that peace is not possible. Human nature seems inherently corrupt, especially to those who want power," Michael said softly.

"Do not worry, Harry. We are here for you. Just know that for every moment you fight the dark, there is more time for people to enjoy the light," Melanie spoke from her portrait.

Harry nodded in understanding, "I just...I don't want to keep fighting wars all my life. It's not fair..." he said, trailing off and shaking his head. There were tears in his eyes, the first tears he'd cried since so many years ago.

"Harry, there will be peace after this, I am almost certain of it. Just know that if another war comes after this one, you must fight again. You are one of the leading figures of the light and if you shirk your duty to the rest of the world than the darkness will probably win. From what you've told us, Dumbledore is aging and there are not many strong light figures left," said Shean, looking at him seriously and yet with tenderness.

"Besides, beating the bad guys isn't a bad thing," said Kevin, who was grinning.

Harry nodded, wiping away some of the tears that had fallen, "I guess... I guess you can count on me," he answered them softly, smiling after the statement.

Everyone else smiled and nodded at him. Henry then cleared his throat, "Very well then. You're training shall begin tomorrow. In the morning go out front to the grounds, it shall begin there," and with that the portraits left after saying goodnight to Harry. All except Henry that is.

Harry had manipulated the locomotor spell into the wingardium leviosa spell and he modified it so that the paintings could direct where they wanted to go and would stay afloat until someone cancelled the spell. He also had put another spell to work so that if they wanted to return to the walls where they hung previously, the first two spells would become dormant until the painting tried to move again.

Henry had said that it was a brilliant work of magic, but that he could probably better the spell once they started training. After Harry was shown to his rather luxurious and large bedroom, Henry left.

Harry stepped into the bathroom and took a nice, long, and hot shower. Even though he cleaned himself regulary with the "Tergeo" spell, it still didn't beat a nice hot shower.

After about ten minutes, he got out of the shower, dried himself, brushed his teeth, and then went over to the closet in the bedroom. He opened it and lo and behold a numerous robes and clothes lay before his eyes.

Stunned, he looked at them all. He noticed they were all of high quality and that they were all spectacular. He noticed some battle robes, even some magic armor, and then there were dress robes, formal robes, and other kinds of robes. What surprised him even more were the drawers under the robes. They were filled with numerous socks, all of which had tags attached to them (that were charmed to be unnoticed, of course) and some of them were perpetually warm or cool, depending on what you preferred. There were some that had cushioning charms or others that were charmed to make you move faster or even jump higher.

Then there were boots of every kind. There was even some Gryffin boots, a very rare thing indeed. Though he felt pity for the great beast that fell for it. It was even better than dragon's hide boots, which he also had plenty of. A rainbow of colors assaulted his every look into the cabinet and he felt dizzy from all the amazing things to be found in the cabinet. There were even earmuffs that were magically tuned to the Wizarding World Wireless. Then there were gloves of every kind and again the best among the lot was the Gryffin gloves.

He felt sorrow once more at seeing them, however he searched for matching robes and found that there were no Gryffin robes.

'Strange. I'd have thought they'd make a set out of it,' he thought as he found some night robes.

They were made of the finest silk and were light blue in color. He didn't see himself wearing it around, but knew he could wear it while sleeping since it was charmed to keep the wearer at a certain temperature and to make the wearer comfortable on all surfaces. Even if he were lying on the ground, his back wouldn't go bad.

He looked up at the ceiling and smiled, closing his eyes and finally getting some rest.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I would appreciate it very much if you reviewed. Much thanks!

_godessa39:_ What do you mean by Trio Love exactly? If you explain it, I can tell you whether or not what you're thinking is true. I don't want to lead you on about it. Thanks for the review though and I hope you enjoy my story. :)


	7. Training, Goblins, and the Heir

**NOTES: I will no longer address all reviews at the end of the chapter after this, in the author's notes. For more information, go to the bottom of the page. Please review and thanks to all that did. I am open to any suggestions and criticisms. Please also note that some plots of other stories I have borrowed and twisted to my own use. Just wanted to let you know that. Thank you and enjoy!**

_Blink_

**STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, though I wish I did so I would have lots of money. Alas, it is not true, as JK Rowling owns it. I merely own what is left for a fanfiction author to own: anything not already thought up by JK Rowling.**

* * *

**Chasing a Shadow**

**Training, Goblins, and the Heir**

* * *

_Potter Mansion, somewhere in England..._  
_August 2_ _- Real world date_

Harry woke up as the alarm buzzed. He practiced his silent spellcasting and made the alarm stop. So far, he had been training for six months already. Potter time, that is. He had actually only spent 24 days in the real world.

He got up and quickly got dressed in a black shirt with red trimming. It had the Gryffindor golden lion on the back but the Potter family crest on the front left-breast. He wore matching black running pants with red lines on the sides of the pant legs.

The black shirt was charmed to keep moisture in and yet also get the toxins from perspiration out. It was also charmed to warm the wearer if the wearer got cold or cool the wearer when the wearer wants. Another charm it had that Harry liked was that the weight of the shirt could be set to specific levels so that while he was running or working out, he would have a constant weight on him.

Apparently, Shean was the best athlete amongst them. He was the number one seeker of Hogwarts at his time. He had joined the team a little late but brought Gryffindor five Quidditch Cups in a row while he was there. So it was he who was tasked with making sure Harry was extremely fit. He had, surprisingly, grown a few more inches, and now stood at a respectable 6'6".

He had grown much more muscle and any fat he had before the training was long gone. He ran ten miles a day, did two-hundred push-ups and sit-ups, then did one-hundred pull-ups. Added to that was the bench-pressing, weights, and continuing the various martial arts that he had started. He was only a blackbelt in two, having left Asia prematurely to finish the quest that the book sent him on.

He was a blackbelt first in Tae-Kwon-Do and then in Karate. The others would take bit longer, but he knew he would get it eventually. He also knew it would take a while before he became a grand master for all of them. He ran past Shean again, who was, as usual, singing some old wizarding wireless song from his time.

Harry had already also begun weapons training - which he had taken already before. However, he was surprised that this too was taught fast to him before. All for his survival, of course, but now that he had more time and so could become a true master of blades.

He sparred and did his techniques and forms at least an hour a day. Shean had taught him how to transfigure something into an opponent with a weapon and then animate it. This is what he sparred with since, of course, he could not fight a portrait.

Harry was getting very proficient quickly and it was only a matter of time, Shean said, before he would move on to other weapons and maybe even dual-wielding, which needed a mastery of one weapon first.

By the time Harry finished his run, it was already seven in the morning. He did his regular two-hundred push-ups and sit-ups then his hundred pull-ups. After that he did his stretching exercises and then practiced Judo, Taekwondo, Karate, Aikido, Muay Thai, and even some Jui-Jitsu. Shean had told him during the first few days that later on he should return to Japan and hire teachers and then bring them back here so as to train him.

"Okay, this time we'll do something different," said Shean after everything was finished.

Harry looked at him curiously, but waited for him to continue.

"There are ten stones on the table in front of you," and sure enough there were, "conjure them into your opponents," Shean told him.

Harry waved his hand a few times and soon enough all ten became gray puppets. They had the same strengths, weaknesses, and anatomy of humans but were made of a gray material. They had no emotions and no real faces, however, they were purposefully made to be skilled in martial arts.

"Now, instead of fighting just one, you will be attacked by all ten. Remember to loosen your mind because you have to make it so that you barely have to think about things and act quickly. Then loosen your muscles. Note that force does not require to be countered with more force and you should use all of your knowledge in the martial arts to your advantage. Now, banish the table and begin," Shean said, moving off to the far side so as to escape the battle. "Also, try not to use a physical shield this time. I want you to get used to pain in case your shield fails you and you don't have time to set another one."

Harry nodded as he banished the table and then walked over to one side of the sparring hall. Well, it was Harry's very own Room of Requirement and so he wanted a sparring hall. Thus, that was what he got.

The stone floor was covered with thick pads so as to prevent too much injury, especially since this is the first time that Harry will be fighting ten opponents at one time. He stretched and jumped around a little, flexing some muscles as he got into his fighting state.

Then he bowed to the 'puppets', who, in turn, bowed back, and then went into fighting stances.

"Fight!" called Shean from the side and Harry moved swiftly and fluidly forward. Hundreds of hours of practice were about to be put to the test.

One of the puppets flew into the air and spun to right as it tucked in its right knee and extended its left leg so as to hit Harry with it. Swaying back, the foot passed inches in front of Harry's face, but he did not have time to dwell on it as he made the puppet fly back with a strong sidekick to the abdomen.

He blocked some punches thrown his way as he rammed a puppet with his shoulder, effectively neutralizing its attack. He stepped back and slid his elbow up, catching the puppet on the chin and throwing it into the air.

Harry spun and ducked as a roundhouse kick swiped the air above him, where his head had been. He swept the floor with a leg and one of the puppets fell as well. The other one had jumped and avoid the attack and kicked again, but Harry had already rolled backwards and was on his feet.

Harry then ran, jumped into the air, and kicked one of the puppets three times, all of which were blocked. He did push the puppet back though and turned to face the others that had closed in on him.

He blocked, punched, backhanded, and kicked two of them, sending them flying, but the others rushed in on Harry.

One did a direct cutting strike at his throat, which he dodged with a sidestep as he grabbed the puppets wrist and elbow and then threw it onto the floor, using its momentum against it. He had no time to smile at that as he ducked another blow, however he could not avoid a kneestrike and it hit him on the side. He rolled away from it, helping to lessen the force but it stlill hurt quite a bit.

He hissed and then he successfully did a Chinese get-up. All ten were standing again and then rushed at him.

He did a double-sidekick with one leg, rotating on his left leg, and pushed back two puppets. Then, jumped and spun in the air, and then connected his jumping-turning-roundhouse that was aimed downwards at one of the puppets' head, which went into an obscene angle with a crack. The puppet went down and didn't move.

Stepping back, he let one of the puppets rush him and then the puppet threw a knife-strike at him. In a flash he had grabbed the puppet's wrist, twisted it to the maximum rotation available to the arm, and pulled the puppet forward. He slammed a knee into the puppet and then when it bent over he kneed the puppet in the face and then broke its arm. It too fell onto the ground and did not move.

Three puppets attacked him from different angles then. He jumped into the air and then did a split kick, which was blocked by one but the other got hit right smack in the face. He rolled in mid-air, using the force of hitting his opponents to 'jump' off them and keep him in the air, and brought his legs together in front of him. The puppet there stood no chance as Harry's two legs came crashing into its head from both sides.

Harry let his upper torso fall but kept the grip on the puppets head as he did a spin, breaking the puppet's neck. He pushed himself off the ground and narrowly avoided an axe kick. Then the puppet jumped at him and kicked, but Harry sprung into action and grabbed the extended leg's ankle and threw the puppet into another, hard.

He fought them, slowly picking them off, but he knew that in future fights like this he would do it faster. He just needed more experience. After what seemed like an hour, though it was only about thirty minutes, Harry stood and swayed a little. He wasn't tired, but he did expend a considerable amount of energy. However, his long runs and work-outs coupled with his training had helped him achieve greater endurance and strength.

"Bravo, Harry! Bravo! Splendid fight, though I could see you were hesitating a few times and that there were other times that you could have used a more effective and better technique, but that will come with experience. We shall do this, from now on, twice a week until you are able to face twenty black-belt level opponents," Shean informed him, "Now go along and get some breakfast."

"Thanks Shean," he replied, smiling, as he banished the puppets and retransfigured them into rocks.

He left for the dining hall where he ate sausages, some rice, vegetables (upon the great insistence of his relatives), and other good food. He ate quickly though, eager to get to his class that involved relating with other magical creatures and how to act appropriately with magical creatures. It also included information on the magical creatures themselves.

Michael, Henry's father, was surprisingly a master diplomat and was also a beast master of his time. Harry had shown a gift for being a beast master when they tested him long ago. He thought back to that surprising day as he walked to his next training class...

_Flashback_

Harry stood nervously amongst his relatives' portraits. He had done this before, but that was long ago and something might have changed. He looked at Henry, who was talking with the twins, Alfred and Anton.

They broke up and then Henry looked at him.

"Harry, you are here, as you know, to be tested on your gifts again. We want to see if there is anything different and we also want to see for ourselves so we can judge the level of your strength.We will then tune this into our classes so that you are at optimal and maximum potential at all times," Henry said, smiling. Harry grinned back.

"So, without further ado, cast these spells..." he then proceeded to tell him of the incantations and movements.

"First," began Anton, "We shall be checking your gifts and abilities. After that, we shall check your magical aura and power. Now, please proceed."

Harry did all of the spells, as instructed, and the portraits were awed.

Harry had the potential to be a Master Mind Magic user, a Potions Master, a Transfiguration Master, a Charms Master, an Archmage and a Sorcerer. They were apparently very valuable abilities and it was the most anyone had seen, apparently. He was destined for great things.

They moved on to his gifts though. He had a somewhat dormant but powerful Heightened Magical Reflexes (which they said was important to unlock the full potential of the gift), Magical Sight, Teleportation, Silent Spellcasting, Spell Manipulator, Beastmaster, and Heightened Magical Power (which was near full potential).

"The last gift. I never knew I had that," Harry told them.

Alfred nodded at that, "Yes, the spell we just told you shows most gifts. There are others, such as your animagi ability, which we cannot do with spells alone."

"Well, this shows that we won't have too much to work on yet. However, that does not mean we will train you lightly. On the contrary, you will probably be the hardest drilled wizard in the world at this moment," said Henry, grinning slightly.

Harry paled at that. Though he had frowned earlier when he saw all his gifts and abilities once more. He hated being so special and so rare. It made him feel so alone in the world.

"Now, Harry. You're training begins," Henry spoke, and so it did.

_End Flashback_

Being a beastmaster meant that he would have a stronger connection and influence with other creatures when he interacted with them. It also meant he could understand all manner of speech and communication between other magical creatures. However, it did not mean he could speak other human languages or understand for that matter. He would still have to study to learn those.

It was also necessary for him, as a beastmaster, to learn etiquette and also to learn how to act with specific races. It was a tedious task but necessary nonetheless.

"Hello, Harry! Hurry up now and take a seat. We have much to get through today," said Michael, and with that, they continued their lesson on Centaurs.

After wrapping up the Centaurs, Harry finally understood why they kept to themselves at despised wizards. They had been shunned by society and were often called beasts, which was the wrong term since they were fellow beings and creatures.

'They probably think that _we _are beasts!' thought Harry, amused.

Their suspicion and hatred of humans also stemmed from the fact that their natural and ancient lands had been wrested away from them and they'd been moved to other lands to accomodate the 'growing' world. With the knowledge given to him though, Harry finally knew how to act with the Centaurs and he had a plan to test out what he had learned with the Centaur herd in the Forbidden Forest.

"Now, we will be moving on to a very interesting race. One that you may very well be familiar with and yet not know much about. That is, of course, the goblins," said Michael.

Harry straightened at this. Truthfully, learning about Centaurs wasn't too interesting, but goblins on the other hand, interested him. Especially since they were adept at magic and were in charge of much of the wealth in the wizarding world.

"Now, what do you know of goblins?"

Harry thought for a moment. What did he know? not much. Only that they were, as mentioned, extremely adept at magic and especially warding. Also, they had a lot of wealth in their hands. He told Michael what little he knew, who nodded in understanding.

"I thought they would teach this at Hogwarts, but the Ministry has long since tried to stop any education about them and also has tried to burn most books on goblins. That was back when Grindelwald had control of the Ministry and had wanted to make the goblins submit to his rule. Since they did not, he had wanted to destroy them and all knowledge of them, though he failed in the former act, the latter act he nearly succeeded," explained Michael, moving about in his portrait.

"You see, the goblins are very strong with magic and an army of them is quite formidable. However, the last time they went to war was against Grindelwald, more than fifty years ago, and who knows now how strong the goblins have become. I assure you that back then, they were weakened due to the first strike by Grindelwald. Anyway, since they have been misunderstood and treated badly, they have long since harbored some hate against wizards, as you have seen in your interactions with some of them.

Goblins want, first and foremost, respect and also praise. After that comes business and, if you are extremely lucky, perhaps even friendship. However, since the Ministry has gone to painstaking lengths to ban or abolish most books on goblin study, leaving only the more obscure or less detailed ones out, you must go to the Potter library yourself and get any books required there," continued Michael, "I shall await you here."

Harry nodded, processing some of the informaton as he ran quickly over to the library to get goblin books.

The Potter Library was huge. Larger than even the Hogwarts one and it also contained better books. Harry went to the stand near the entrance to the library. On the stand was a large tome called _The Catalogue_ and if you tapped it while thinking of the subject matter that you wanted, it would list all books related to it. All you had to do after that was pick out the books by pointing to them with your finger and the tome would send out for them magically.

Harry did just that and picked off the first few ones and some with more interesting titles. _So you think you know goblins?_ by Harold Spunker, _Goblins, Gringotts, and Gold_ by Horace Flanders, _Dealings with Goblins: A Guide_ by Kensington Karter, and _Goblins: A History _by Ornwald Stagen were but some of the books he had picked.

They soon came flying to him and hovered next to the catalogue book, getting into a pile automatically. There were six books in total, all of them at least three inches thick. He made them follow him and stalked off, back to Michael's room.

"Ahh, I remember this book," said Michael as he ran a hand over the cover of _Goblins: Don't go Wrong!_ by Ashen Mulwack.

"Now, I advise that you read all of these books over the course of our going over the topic. These will certainly help you once you start to deal with goblins. I assure you, they will be very good allies in the war to come," Michael told him, making Harry groan.

It was not because he didn't like to read, but it was because he couldn't read fast enough and it usually took him several hours just to finish one book. He would have to talk to Johnathan, who was his charms instructor, about that.

"Now, let us begin with how to act appropriately around goblins..."

* * *

Harry's head was swimming. There was a lot of information that he just received, however he began to concentrate and sort through what he learned. Thanks to Kevin, who was a Master at Mind Magic, he had been taught how to organize his mind so thoroughly that he would learn things at a faster rate and also retain things for indefinite periods of time. However, he was still new to it and he still had to concentrate to organize his mind. Kevin did say it wouldn't take long before it became natural to him and he had to admit that he was getting slightly better at it. His mind also sometimes organized itself, though it had happened only a few times. 

Harry's Occlumency was extremely strong and he had no doubt that even Dumbledore would not be able to penetrate his mind. He had set up numerous defenses and wards around his mind. He even had different levels of strength and different wards. There was the constant and powerful ward that he placed on his dearest memories. There was also a constant ward on the worst memories.

He then worked to destroy any of the ones he wanted to forget and thus freeing up space in his mind, though his mind could take a colossal amount amount of information, it was always safer to delete unwanted memories. However, he tried not to do that too much, since he did not want to leave too many holes in his past.

He then had different levels of power and alertness. He had a constant ward that was low in strength and detected if anyone was trying to get into his mind. He then had moderate strength wards that did the same thing. Then he had the full power wards and shields that guarded his mind with an impenetrable steel, stone, and concrete wall (or at least it looked that way if someone tried to get in). He would also be alerted of anyone trying to break into his mind, but if anyone tried, they would recoil as the magical barriers would attack the mind magic user until the user retreated into its respective mind.

He sighed, it took a few minutes, but now everything was clear to him and he smiled. He would surprise the goblins the next time they would meet. He walked to another room and found Henry there.

"Hello Harry. Ready for some more training?" asked the old man humorously.

Harry rolled his eyes and stood, waiting.

"Now, we will practice some more of your silent spellcasting, since you are already a master of wandless magic. However, do remember that wandless magic is only sometimes stronger than magic with a wand and magic with a staff is far more powerful than magic with either of those two. Now, let's begin," instructed Henry.

For the next two hours he levitated things silently, then transfigured things, and then did many other things such as dueling with magical Puppets, among other things. He made some progress, but it was still a while before he would become a master. Henry was a sorcer in his day as well, but was never an archmage and so did not know how best to instruct on that field. But, Harry knew that he went to the library to read up on some things - with the help of the house elves, of course.

He left and went to Johnathan's room, where he asked the question about any charms that could make a person read faster.

"Well, I believe there is one charm that I had found once. It was very effective and I read more than a fifty pages a minute, though the strength of the spell varied with the spellcaster. Let me see..." he screwed up his head in thought, closing his eyes.

"Ah, yes! The incantation is: _Legocursim_. Fairly straightforward, all you have to do is tap the space between your eyes as you say the spell," he told Harry, who smiled brilliantly.

"Great! Why didn't you tell me this before?!? It could have helped me so much!" said Harry, a bit angry and yet more overjoyed at the spell.

"Well, you never asked," replied Johnathan, who grinned.

"Now, we shall discuss how to magically harden liquid. This is most benficial when you want to trap your enemy. First, you shoot water at him and then once that is accomplished you use the _Cougelo_ charm to harden the liquid, effectively hindering any movement. It could be used for other uses as well, such as sealing a doorway or making a wall thicker. By using this spell, you convert it into a strange compound that is unrecorded, however it is very strong and can withstand numerous powerful reductos if applied thickly," Johnathan told Harry, who began practicing it already.

After he had successfully mastered that, they moved on.

"Well, let's see. Ah! Speaking of 'seeing', let's try some strong sight spells. First we shall learn how to make a target unable to see clearly. The _Ocelloucae _charm will do the trick. Oh-Say-LooSay. Yes, that's it. Now, try it on yourself."

Harry did as told and before he knew it, all he could see were blurs, really blurry blurs. He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face properly.

"Wow... that's pretty powerful," commented Harry, "Useful too, in tight situations."

Johnathan nodded, "Now try the clear sight charm. The incantation is: _Acclaro_. Simple, really, but it takes average wizards a while to master it and so not many people know it well. And yes, it can cure your eyesight, which makes me wonder why no one wanted you to do that in the first place," said he.

Harry took his glasses off, not that it helped when his vision was really still blurry, and he cast the clear sight charm. It worked like charm - no pun intended - and he could see things so much clearer. Clearer than when he DID have the glasses on, which surprised him. He could see intricate details on the wall and when he looked out the window and focused, he could see a pair of butterflies flying in a patch of flowers more than a hundred feet away.

"Now this is amazing," Harry smirked.

Johnathan just laughed, "Well, let's move on, shall we?" and with that they did move on to other charms and other practical uses.

Harry broke for lunch at about one o'clock and ate hastily, talking to Lopa and Dobby. Mundy was apparently helping one of the portraits.

"Dobby, remember when I told you to keep a journal or something about the events that happened in the wizard world while I was gone?" asked Harry, draining a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Yes, Harry. I is remembering that. Do you want it now?" replied Dobby, smiling eagerly.

"Not yet, but I shall want it soon. How are you guys, by the way? Anything I can do for you?"

Dobby and Lopa looked at each other, "No sir, nothing is needed. We is very happy serving the great Harry Potter. But..." Lopa paused.

Harry looked at her curiously, wondering what she wanted.

"...well, we is wondering if Winky can be working here too. She is missing Dobby and Dobby says she is not well in Hogwarts."

Harry nodded at that, "Sure, why not? Just bring her over here and I'll hire her." He smiled as he saw their big grins.

They thanked him profusely as he got up and went off to find Anton, who was his offensive spells teacher. After him, there was Alfred, who was his defensive teacher. Then he had free time. Tomorrow, he would have a full day of learning the art of healing, human anatomy, and the like, all of which were to be taught by all the female portraits while the men took a day off.

Harry smiled upon entering the Room of Requirement, which had expanded into a large hall with figures in it. Unanimated forms of Harry's "Puppets".

"Okay Harry, you've covered everything you've learned from Dumbledore and from your own studies, but now we must go on. Today, we shall start with a few more powerful spells. Now, mind you, some may say that some of these spells are dark, but I assure you that the thinking of light and dark magic is very biased and controlled by the Ministry. However, that is a lesson that Henry will give you in the future. Now, here are the spells that you will learn today," he spoke to a very eager Harry.

Harry had always thought his repertoire of spells was significantly small and full of weak spells, which it was when Anton told him some of the spells he was to learn.

Harry tried the first spell on a large rock that he had created. "Silextelum!" he cried, his hand stretched out. A dozen bolts of sharp thick rocks flew at the boulder, embedding themselves into the large rock. Some buried themselves very deep and Harry smiled. The Dark Order was going to suffer far more than the Death Eaters ever did.

"Fervefatelum!" he cried, trying the second spell. This time, multiple red bolts shot at the rock and where it contacted, there was a loud hissing noise and lots of smoke. The parts that were hit were melting fast from the intense heat.

"Gelidustelum!" he followed after a few moments of observing the second spell. This third spell threw freezing bolts this time and any parts that were hit were frozen for a foot around the contact point.

"Dissescido!"

The rock was cut savagely and the frozen pieces shattered immediately. The large rock was extremely maimed and large deep cuts and ruts were all over it. Some parts of the rock even fell off.

"Fulmenis!"

This time a bolt of lightning erupted from the tip of his wand, striking the rock and breaking it into a million pieces.

"Wow, better be careful with that one," he whistled slowly.

He made multiple boulders with the fragments of the broken rock and tried the other spells, sometimes even trying previous spells again.

"Flamma," shot out a fiery jet of flame that could rival that of dragon flame.

"Cremo," was very nasty and the flames consumed the target. In this case, the rock was smoldering and molten before Harry froze it with multiple _Gelidustelum _spells.

That was all the spells he learned for the day, but he had mastered them quickly and had even dueled with the puppets - after animating them of course.

He then waited as Anton floated out of the room and Alfred came in. After repairing the puppets, Alfred made him duel a few of them, but instead of taking them out immediately, he was required to keep dodging and blocking attacks for as long as he could. That way, he would get so used to dodging, weaving, and pretty much moving in battle and it would also hone his reflexes and defensive skills.

After that, Harry was feeling a bit tired but he still had a significant amount of magic and strength left in him.

"That was great, Harry. Soon we'll move on to the more advanced stage of defense. Well, I'll teach you a particularly powerful shielding spell. I created it back in my day and it's far more powerful than your Protego and your other shield spells."

"That would be great! I had always thought that some of my spells were a bit on the weaker side."

"Ah, but remember. Even if a spell is weak, the amount of magic you put into it and the power of the user can make it stronger - though I guess they are not as strong as other spells out there," replied Alfred, his eyes twinkling.

Harry smiled as he was told how to work the Advanced shielding spell.

"The incantation is Contepresidi. Remember, it's **Con-teh-preh-see-dee**, not **Con-tey-prey-see-dee**, though I guess after you work out your silent spellcasting and your wandless spellcasting, you won't really need to say it," he told Harry with a wink.

Harry tried the shield out and found it took a bit more energy than the Protego spell, but was far more powerful. Smiling, Harry left the Room of Requirement and headed to his room.

After taking a long hot shower, he got dressed and quickly cast the speed-reading charm on himself. He then focused so that his mind would sort the information well and he would retain everything perfectly.

He then got the goblin books and began reading.

Thirty minutes later, he had already finished two of the thick books. Smiling triumphantly, he continued on, getting much more interested when the books talked about goblin magic. Though gobin history was boring, much of the books on interacting with goblins got their facts from the goblins' history.

_Goblins have no need for any items to focus their magic, such as a wand or staff, though wizards also have no need for it if trained in wandless magic. However, it is important to note that goblins have been on Earth long before wizards and this may be the reason why they are more attuned to magic. Since they have a better connection with magic, their magic is significantly greater in respect to their ability to tap into the flow of magic. It is also interesting to note that during the war with Grindelwald, the goblins formed an army and stormed one of his bases in France._

_It is not widely described and not well known, but sources say that no dark wizard in the French base of Grindelwald were left alive. Thus, if in a battle goblins may prove to be considerable warriors, especially since their knowledge and use of magic seem much deeper than most average wizards. Another significant characteristic of goblin magic is that most of their spells require no incantations and instead, rely on the intent and thoughts of the goblin casting it. However, one wizard was said to have heard goblins casting spells in Gobbledeegook..._

Harry took note of the information on that page. That was why the goblins had such powerful wards, spells, and defenses at Gringotts! They would certainly prove valuable allies in the coming war. Harry then made another mental note to try to learn Gobbledeegook.

He finished the last book and checked the magical clock in his room. It showed that he had spent tw hours reading six thick goblin books, which was a surprising feat. He would have to read some more before dinner.

He walked over to his closet and dressed in a plain deep red robe. He then shrunk the goblin books and went over to the library, putting them in the shelf that said **_Returns_**. The library was empty and so he decided to read there so as to get through as many books as possible, especially now that he had the spell to make him read faster. He thanked Henry for helping him with his Occlumency and Legilimency, though the former was the more important one when it came to organizing his thoughts properly.

He quickly called up some books on offensive spells and techniques as well as some defensive ones as well. He took about ten books for offensive spells and ten for defensive spells and walked over to the side, carefully levitating the books. He placed them on the table and sat down, instantly grabbing one of the books and starting to read.

It was close to dinner time when Harry finally finished his intense reading in the library. He had gone through the first twenty books so fast he had time to read some more books. He had then decided to look up 'archmage' in the Catalogue and found only a few books on the subject, all of which he took.

_Archmages: The Truth _was the most descriptive and most helpful of the books he had read. He read it with a fervor, even rereading one more time to make sure he got the information contained within its pages.

_An Archmage is, generally speaking, a far more powerful sorcerer. Sorcerers have long been known to have wandless magical abilities, something that is nigh impossible for average to even some strong wizards to achieve. One must truly be born a sorcerer to achieve their power. However, this book is about Archmages, who are the rarest kind of wizard. It has long been historically documented that Archmages are usually born to tumultuous and dark times and often are tasked with saving the world from the tides of evil..._

_Archmages have a closer relationship to the flow of magic and can control the elements. They are formidable in strength and power, which is why it is on their shoulders that lie the salvation of the world from evil. Many of the common gifts is, of course, wandless magic and silent spellcasting. Also, spell creation and spell manipulation seem easy to an archmage, especially one trained well. It is known that the abilities of a true archmage can never reach full potential if the archmage is not taught and trained by a master archmage. However, even improperly trained archmages are considerably more powerful than the strongest wizards..._

_... archmages' emotions are said to influence the power of their magic. A historical document written by a first-hand witness once wrote that when Merlin fought, he usually was calm and did incredible magic and damage. However, when he was angry, according to the document, it was as if the apocalypse had begun and the gods had torn the earth asunder. However, it was said that while anger did exponentially increase an archmage's power, it also drained them so much faster since their emotions burn through their magical power as much as their spells do. Thus, being peaceful and having a clear mind is far more effective and efficient than having the mind clouded with emotion..._

_... reach a certain level of power, wands can no longer withstand the amount of power coursing through it. Though rarely does an archmage need a magic focus, it has been documented that all archmages have carried a staff, which can handle the amount of power harnessed in an archmage. It also allows for stronger magical focus in certain situations and may do other things that the author of this book has not found out..._

_... Merlin was the last documented great archmage, though some say that Albus Dumbledore is an archmage, he is in fact, just a very powerful mage and sorcerer..._

Harry looked up and rubbed his eyes. That was a lot of information in such a short amount of time, but he had sorted them out well with his occlumency, which he was slowly getting mastery at. He looked up at the clock above the doorway and noticed that it was about thirty minutes before dinner, which was at 8pm.

He stood, returning the archmage books, and decided to take some books with him. He thought for a moment and decided that maybe he could learn some potions, arithmancy, and alchemy since he was doing pretty well in his magic and spellwork.

He took four books on alchemy, three large tomes on potions, and three more on arithmancy. He left the library with a slight buzzing headache from all the information, but he was happy.

After shrinking and pocketing the books, he whistled all the way to the dining hall. Everyone was there, as usual, and were talking with each other. They greeted Harry when he came in and then continued to discuss something. Harry paid no mind to what they were talking about and devoured the food prepared hungrily. He was midway through his meal of roastbeef, mashed potato with gravy, and some salad when the house elves popped around him.

They had brought Winky with them, who smiled nervously and bowed low to Harry, who quickly scolded her for her actions and told her that if she wanted to work for him, she would not bow or do anything of the sort.

"I'm you're friend, Winky, just like Dobby, Lopa, and Mundy. Besides, I'm also hiring you and paying you a set amount of galleons a week..." but at this Winky seemed stupefied, "Now, now. If you realy want to work for me, you must accept. I will not have you as some sort of slaves. You are my friends and are just helping me run my household," he assured her.

She smiled then and then bound herself to Harry's service, in exchange for being friends and payment for her services, of course. Henry beamed at him, and so did the other portraits, who admired and respected the young man before them.

"Truly remarkable, what you have done, Harry. Very few wizards approach house elves like so and I am proud of you," said Henry, tears in his eyes.

"Don't get all mushy on me, grandpa! It makes me feel...uncomfortable.." Harry squirmed in his seat, trying to finish eating.

The others laughed and so did Henry.

* * *

_Total Potter Time: 1 year, Total Outside Time: 48 days (August 26)_. 

Harry was adding some salmander blood and some finely ground metal balls to his advanced strengthening potion under the watchful eye of Kevin Weathers Potter, who was the family's best potions master. He quickly stirred the potion eight times counter-clockwise, five times clockwise, and then added some Pomegrenate juice, quickly stirring it ten times clockwise right after and two times counter-clockwise.

He whiped some sweat off his forehead to keep it from falling into the cauldron, which had turned a dark blue color. He then added some tiger claws and four alligator fangs, careful to mix it properly.

"That's it Harry, now you only have to stir it a bit more and wait a couple of weeks before you can drink it. It is only a one-time effect though. It is not known why it only works once, but I suspect it has something to do with the body of the user and how it can only go so far. Perhaps it may even have something to do with the potion itself that if you use it once, any additional doses might be cancelled by the previously consumed potion," said Kevin.

Harry nodded, "Don't worry, I don't really think I need to do it twice. If I do, I might as well become the Hulk," he joked.

"Huh? Who is the... the Hulk, did you say? I've never heard of him. What feats did he accomplish for you to talk of him with such praise?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "Nevermind. It was a muggle comic character who was extremely powerful because of something in his blood that mutated his genes. He became somewhat indestructable as bullets, bombs, and the like did not pierce his skin," he explained.

"Interesting. Very interesting. I shall try to look this Hulk up."

Harry just shook his head, muttering something about ignorant wizards. He took his stirring rod out of the cauldron, which had turned a dark orange color. He smiled, he had successfully compelted the potion.

He had gone through every potion he had learned in Hogwarts and then some. This was better than the strengthening potion he made in fifth year. Not only because he was better at potions and he brewed it near perfection, but because the potion itself was more powerful than the one in fifth year.

He then proceeded to start on his wolfsbane potion, which was by far the more difficult of all the potions he tried so far. He could not finish it all in one day though, since some of it required an addition of ingredients after certain time periods and in one instance, the addition of wolfsbane during a new moon (moonless night), which was coming up soon. Harry hoped to try his variation of the wolfsbane potion on Remus, since Kevin and Harry had changed some of the ingredients and brewing instructions to make the potion more potent and more powerful.

After finishing with that, it was time for lunch and so Harry carefully put the cauldrons away with some wandless and silent magic before walking with Kevin to the dining hall.

"I cannot wait to try the new wolfsbane potion on Remus! If our changes and calculations are right, it should make his change barely painful and also keep his head clear at the same time. Maybe in the future, we can brainstorm a way to even prevent changes!" Harry exclaimed excitedly.

Kevin chuckled, "Yes! What a delightful idea. I do believe we did make the right changes, though we shall see if it works or not during the next full moon."

It was during lunch that Harry decided that it was time to make a visit to Diagon Alley. He smiled when Dobby wished to accompany him, but he told the elf that he might be recognized and so decided to bring Mundy instead. Dobby looked sad at that, but Harry assured him that he would try to spend more time with him in the future.

"No, great Harry Potter sir! I is knowing that you is training for war. It be very bad of Dobby to be distracting you!"

"Nonsense, Dobby. I shall spend my time as I please and with who I want to spend it with," he replied with a smile.

Dobby grinned toothily, his eyes wider than usual, "You is really great wizard, Harry! Great, great wizard!" and with that he was gone with a pop.

"I can never truly understand house elves," said Harry to no one in particular.

"Well, you have never tried to understand, now have you, dear?" asked Susan.

"Well, I guess not.."

"So that is why you don't understand. To understand something, you have to take the time to learn what you want to understand," Alfred told him as he smiled at his wife.

"Yeah, I... Well... Okay, you win!" he shook his head, "I'll set aside some of my freetime to get to know house elves."

"That would be very wise. Yet again, you surprise me Harry," Henry spoke, eyeing him with pride and care.

"Well, I guess I'm just full of surprises, now, aren't I?" he replied jokingly.

"Finish your food, dear. Didn't you say you wanted to go to Diagon Alley today?" asked Melanie.

"Oh, right!"

He then proceeded to quickly wolf down his food and saying a quick goodbye, he ran up to his room. He decided to wear a fine golden-yellow robe trimmed with white that was charmed with protective spells and slightly made of battle-robe material, which meant if hit the robe would absorb or dampen the blow, though it was not as strong as a full battle robe. He then wore white gloves that also had protective spells and had a charm on them that your wand would never leave your hand if someone tried to disarm you of it. It was also charmed to keep the wearer at a certain temperature.

He wore matching white boots with yellow trim and laces. It had silencing spells, a warming charm, and gave a slight boost to speed. Smiling at himself in the mirror, he truly looked like some rich pure-blood. He laughed at that, even Malfoy would not recognize him now, though to be sure, he placed a spell on his face to make it look different. It was some type of a 'masking' spell that Jason had learned of to conceal his identity, since back then the Zabini family was a supporter of Grindelwald and he did not want them to recognize him in any case.

Looking at himself, it only altered a few things, and surprisingly enough, the spell hid his lightning-bolt scar and changed his facial features to make them a little older in appearance and his emerald green eyes seemed to have a twinkle in them, though if it was because he didn't really notice before or because of the spell, he didn't know.

Nodding in approval of the spell, he left his room, calling upon Mundy to accompany him. He told the elf to look for and follow him in Diagon Alley and then teleported off.

* * *

He purposefully teleported a block away from the Leaky Cauldron, in an obscure alleyway that he had seen earlier in his travels to and from Diagon Alley. It was a bit chilly and he thanked whoever charmed his clothes for adding warming charms to them. 

He briskly walked to the pub and pushed the door open as he stepped inside. All heads turned as he walked in, his golden robe shining bright. He looked every part a rich and powerful lord.

"May I be of assistance, Lord?" asked Tom, the bartender.

Harry shook his head slightly, acting as if he were some great lord indeed. He did reach into his pocket and grabbed five galleons, which he then placed on the bar in front of Tom. The bartender smiled and took the gold, eyeing the people in the pub. They turned back to their drinks and their food as the golden figure nodded to him and then walked to the entrance of Diagon Alley.

Tom had a feeling he knew that person before, but it was better to be polite to the rich and powerful - which is what he did. He got a few galleons for it, after all. Though the man did look as if he knew Tom personally. 'Strange, very strange' he thought as he went back to brewing some drinks.

Harry smiled, Tom had not recognized him and so did the other people in the Leaky Cauldron. It was going to be easier than he expected. He tapped the bricks in the wall as it slowly moved into an archway for him to walk through. He entered Diagon Alley.

There was a considerable number of people in the Alley. Far more than when Voldemort had been alive. Harry smiled at that, happy that he had helped these people get rid of their fears and helped them to live freely once again. He just hoped he could do so again, when the darkness returned.

He walked quickly to Gringotts, noticing that a few people turned their heads at him. His robe was truly brilliant and expensive, though he tried not to mind it. What he didn't see was the golden lion that was on the back of the robe, since he had just picked it off the rack and didn't really bother to look at it all. He did hear one man say something about "... Lord Gryffindor?" the man had asked as he passed by.

He paid no heed to it and forgot all about it as he stepped into Gringotts Wizarding Bank. The instant he stepped in, he felt the numerous wards and spells surrounding him. It was overwhelming and as he walked it felt as if he was swimming under a large sea of magic. It was nothing compared to the outside, where he felt the magic as well. It was so thick and dense that Harry was surprised that no one else noticed.

He walked up to a familiar face and smiled as he approached the goblin. His name was Griphook and had helped Harry before. It took only a few seconds before the goblin looked up, eyeing him and a little surprised.

"May I help you, sir?"

"Yes, Griphook, you can. I would like to have a statement on my holdings and I would like to visit my vault as well," he replied smoothly.

Visibly surprised that his name was known, he leapt off his seat and walked around the table. "If you can please follow me," he said, before walking off.

Harry followed closely, his steps silent and light, as he observed Gringotts thoroughly. There was a large main hall that was rectangular in shape. It was also a bit larger than the Great Hall in Hogwarts. It was also made with stone and had arched stone support beams crossing the ceiling and supported in turn by two large stone columns on opposite sides of the hall.

Two rows of tables ran parallel to the lengthwise walls, all of which were filled with paperwork and behind all of them were goblins. Harry even noticed that the seat that Griphook vacated had instantly been filled by another goblin, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. There were multiple doors down the hall and Griphook took the second door to the right, nodding to two goblins that flanked the large wooden doors. They opened of their own accord and Griphook and Harry slipped into another, but much smaller, hall.

It was more of a hallway actually as many doors ran down the length of it. Goblins scurried around, their minds set on some task or job that needed completion. Some had other wizards with them, but Harry only glimpsed them fleetingly. Griphook went to one of the doors and opened it.

Harry then smiled at that. They then passed through a few other hallways and rooms before coming to a stop in front of another set of large wooden doors, this time coupled with some brass. The bank was planned so that any attackers would have extreme difficulty trying to get out once they get in, since their anti-apparition wards were extremely powerful and so were their anti-portkey wards. However, Harry noted as he looked around that they had no wards against teleportation, which he could bet that the goblins had the ability to do.

Two goblins, again, flanked the doors and Harry had a feeling they were there for protection.

'They must be battle goblins' he thought as Griphook nodded again at one of them, who nodded back. The doors swung open to reveal a moderately-sized room filled with a few tables and goblins. Griphook approached the one farthest from the door and bowed low. Harry also bowed, but not as much.

He greeted the goblin behind the desk in gobbledegook, surprising both of them immensely. So much so, in fact, that they were utterly speechless and staring in wonder at him. Harry stood still, though inside he was wondering if he had said it right. He thought he had, but then again it was easy to make a mistake if you're learning just from a book about a subject that isn't taught widely.

Then the goblin replied in gobbledeegook, thanking him for the greeting and asking how he came about to know gobbledegook.

"Well, I am no expert, but let us just say that I studied hard and that I have some talents," he replied, still in gobbledeegook.

Then he changed into English.

"You have no idea how difficult it was to craft that sentence. Gobbledegook is an extremely difficulty language to grasp, especially since I am not a goblin."

They both smiled, "Very interesting. Very, very interesting. I also would like to express my gratitude that you are doing business with us, one as intriguing and great a wizard as you seem to be. Griphook here tells me that you even remembered his name. Such trivial matters are supposedly _beneath_ most wizards," he said, eyeing Harry curiously.

"Well, I am not most wizards. That, I can assure you."

"Indeed, you are not. Very well then, Griphook tells me you wish to have a copy of your current holdings and that you wish to visit your vault. Though, if I may ask, what is your name?"

Harry paused for a minute, "It still stands that, as long as a client is for the good and light side and has done no evil deeds against any laws or creatures, that the information exchanged between client and Gringotts is kept strictly confidential and is woven with multiple secrecy and anti-spying charms?" he asked.

Again, a look of surprise flashed across both goblins faces, before disappearing as fast as they appeared, "Why, yes. That rule still stands. It is one of our most kept and highest rules here at Gringotts," he answered.

"Good," with that Harry waved his hand and the masking spell disappeared, though he still remained the same save for his facial features changing back to normal, "I would not like my presence to be known yet and I have matters of secrecy to finish before I face the world once more. Oh, and my name-" but he did not get to finish as both goblins cut him off.

"Harry Potter!" they cried in unison.

All the goblins in the room stopped, puzzled, and turned to look at the golden-robed wizard. Harry felt their stares and was surprised at all that he would elicit such a reaction, from goblins no less!

"Is there a... problem?" he asked, confused.

"No, no, no! No problem at all, Mister Potter. It is just that we goblins have much debt to you since you defeated the great Dark Lord Voldemort, who had long since threatened to destroy us, enslave us, or to make us join him. We also wanted to thank you for standing up against Fudge, who had betrayed and cheated some fellow goblins of their money and also wished to wrest the control of Gringotts away from the wealth of the world," replied the goblin, who stood on his chair and took a bow, "My name is Sharpstone, by the way."

Suddenly, Harry was surrounded by goblins who wished to congratulate him on his victory against the Dark Lord and to thank him for it as well. Just then, Sharpstone's eyes widened.

"I believe that I am no longer going to assist, you, Mister Potter. It appears that the President of the bank wishes to accomodate you personally. If you would please follow Griphook, he shall take you to the President," said Sharpstone, a bit saddened.

Hiding his confusion and surprise, Harry nodded at that. "Trust that I shall not forget you. All of you," he said before leaving the room. In truth, he would not forget unless he chose to, his head having already automatically organized the names with the faces of the goblins he met.

It took a bit longer to reach the President's office, passing through higher-level security halls as more armed and serious-looking goblins stood or patrolled the area. Some wielded heavy-looking double-bladed axes while others wore short-swords on their belts. They had armor on as well, which seemed to be made out of some strange metal. Harry had no time to observe one closely as he was ushered through a set of large stone doors guarded by six battle goblins.

"Mister Potter, so nice of you to come visit us! Please do take a seat, we have much to discuss," said the rather large and wealthy-looking goblin.

He wore strange robes made of rich material, but over that he wore the same strange metallic armor of the other battle goblins.

"Ah, you have seen some of our fine armor? It is very nearly indestructible, though a bit heavy, really," he commented excitedly.

"Now, I hear you know how to speak in our language? My name is Fireswift" he asked in gobbledegook, as if testing.

"Yes, I taught myself how, though it was extremely difficult. I had trouble even with some good books. It is a pleasure to meet you, Fireswift," he replied after a bit of thought.

"Intresting. Now, of course, it is difficult to trust you as of yet, so may you please put a drop of blood on this parchment? It will reveal your true identity, as well as your bloodline and any other identifying factors. This is, of course, precautionary, and I do hope you understand."

"Of course. Security protocol 183C Section 4 Subsection A - If a client disappears, client's holdings have little activity, or the client has not made contact for a long period of time with Gringotts (usually more than three years) then upon the next visit of the client, he or she must use a blood-identity parchment to ensure proper identification before futher business can be made..." he recited as he sifted through the information he read on Gringotts in a flash.

The Gringotts president smiled wide at that, "Interesting that you should know our protocols by heart. Very surprising. Now, if you please?" he said, a little bit awed.

Harry carefully pricked his finger with a silent spell and let a drop of blood fall onto the parchment. It was then absorbed and disappeared as writing soon appeared on it. He healed the small puncture wound with a slight movement of his finger and waited.

Fireswift looked at it and his smile turned to a frown and then to a look of horror.

"Oh, dear. I am... oh, where are my manners! How could we not have known! Such... this is very bad... I only hope you may forgive me and Gringotts for this gravest mistake," he said in a somewhat pleading and worried voice.

Concerned and confused, again, he asked what was wrong.

"Well, it says here that you are the eldest heir of Lord Gryffindor, the remaining heir of the Potter family and Baron Potter, the heir of the Black Family and Sir Black, and also the heir of Lord Hufflepuff, husband of the renowned Helga Hufflepuff," he said, wincing, "We apologize sincerely for our grave mistake of not calling you by your rightful and honorable title, Lord Gryffindor," he spoke.

Harry sat on the chair, stunned beyond belief. His family had a Baron? He was the eldest heir of Gryffindor? Hufflepuff?!?! and Sirius was knighted? His mind carefully stored the information, but he still had the feeling of a headache from the shock.

"Are we forgiven, my Lord?"

"Wh-oh! Yes, yes. Of course.." he trailed off his reply, still wondering. Did Dumbledore know?? Did he hide it from him, again?

The president let out a breath of relief and smiled again, "Rest assured that all are informed of your status now, my Lord. That mistake will not be repeated again," he stated seriously.

Harry nodded, though he did ask one quesetion, "If I am the heir of... them, then howcome you call me just by Lord Gryffindor?"

"This is because it has the highest honor, respect, title, and position out of all of them. Now, with that matter, you're holdings..." and he rummaged through some files below the desk.

"Ah, yes! Here we go. It seemed thicker than when Harry last saw it and he wondered if it had anything to do with the recent revelation. His mind still swimming, he tried to concentrate and to ask the others about it later.

"It appears that your very first vault was only a vault that you could access while you were still under twenty years of age. Once you reached twenty, we were to allow you to access the Potter Family vault. Now, here are the keys,' a thick envelope suddenly appearing out of nowhere. He gave it to Harry.

"Why are there multiple keys?"

"This is because they are seperate keys. One for the Gryffindor vault, one for the Hufflepuff vault, one for the Potter Family vault, and one for the Black Family vault, which you apparently did not receive after we had sent the key to Sir Dumbledore," he seemed very irritated about that fact, and so did Harry.

The old man had hidden things from him again! He gripped the seat of the chair in anger, but then let his anger subside and cool quickly so as not to do anything that might attract further attention from Fireswift.

"Please note that these do not include the other individual items found within each seperate vault. You must find those out for youself, since we are not allowed within the vaults themselves," he said.

Harry nodded, wondering just how much he had.

"Now, in your first Potter vault, which was set aside for your school funding, there are roughly one million and eight-hundred ninety-three thousand galleons. This includes all sickles and knuts as well as galleons, of course. Then in the Potter Family vault, there amounts to approximately one billion three-hundred million galleons along with the titles to Godric's Hollow, Potter Mansion - which has yet to be found - and other various places and plots of land. You also are a part owner of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, owner of Quality Quidditch Supplies, owner of the Nimbus Racing Broom Company, and other smaller businesses.

Now, with the Black Family vault, you have eight-hundred million six-hundred eighty thousand galleons along with part ownership of the Chudley Cannons Quidditch team, part ownership of Firebolt Quidditch Brooms Inc., and part ownership of Puddlemere United Quidditch team. You are given the titles to various plots of land as well as ownership and rent on other businesses.

For the Hufflepuff vault, therein lies about nine-hundred million galleons and titles to quite a few lands. Along with this is the ownership of several potion-making businesses as well as part ownership of Madam Malkin's in Diagon Alley.

Now, for the Gryffindor vault, there is a substantial amount of galleons. Amounting up to two billion, combined with all titles of land of course, which amount for a fourth of that amount. You are also the owner of the Grodzisk Goblins Qudditch team and other businesses as well," he stopped, looking at a very shocked Harry Potter.

So shocked, in fact, that he had forgotten to breathe and had turned a little blue.

"Lord Gryffindor? Please, I would like it if you did not die here, or that you not die at all, actually," said Fireswift, concerned.

Harry breathed in finally. His mind had gone numb and his heart had nearly stopped beating. He was... bloody hell! He was probably the richest wizard in England! Maybe even Europe for that matter.

"Bloody hell, I just... wow.."

"Yes, quite a substantial amount of wealth you have there, Lord Gryffindor. However, I am not surprised that one such as you has this much."

"It's very...surprising. I never knew..."

Fireswift nodded, "Is there anything else you wish to do before you visit these vaults?"

"Yes please. I would like to transfer some..."

* * *

_Later, Underground Rail System, Gringotts..._

Harry smiled, his head still flying high in the sky. He was richer than he had ever thought he was. He had suspected the amount in his trust fund, but never the amount that had just been told to him that day. He was going shopping, that was for sure.

He had transferred all his trust fund money (about one and a half million galleons) to the Weasley Family vault, which he found was just above his in the age of the family, being the fifth overall oldest family. The Potter family being the sixth.

He had then also transferred a million each to the vaults of Lupin, Tonks, Granger, Lovegood, and Longbottom. He then gave a million each to the Order members and his Hogwarts professors that had fought alongside him, such as Kingsley, Mad-Eye, McGonagall, Flitwick, Pomfrey, Sprout, and even Hagrid.

"Griphook, tell me, what are the differences in the security of the vaults?"

The goblin thougth for a moment before giving Harry the answer as they plunged a few dozen feet, making Harry a bit uneasy.

"Well, Lord Gryffindor, there are different types of vaults. The more prominent, popular, powerful, and respectable a person or family is, the more protection they get. However, in Gringotts, there are different levels. The lowest levels are for vaults such as the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw vaults. Above that there are the Family vaults, such as the Malfoy, Potter, Weasley, Longbottom, etc., they are distinguished and respected families as well as wealthy and powerful. Then above that level are moderate-security and above that the lower-level security vaults.

The lowest vaults have dragons, very powerful goblin protective spells, personal spells by the owners, and even traps and teams of battle goblins. Then the Family vaults have dragons, powerful protective spells, and some personal spells as well. There is one battle goblin team each. The moderate-security vaults have powerful protective spells and the lower-level security vaults have protective spells for the much less wealthy.

And, of course, through all this, one must have the proper keys to open the vaults themselves. However, the Family and lowest level vaults need a direct bloodline descendant to even put the key in the lock," he explained as they finally came to a stop.

He got out and walked over to the Potter Vault, where he saw mountains of galleons that towered over him. The vault itself was huge. Numerous items and trinkets lined shelves on the walls and some were also just strewn about. He found a few interesting things, such as a box of charmed jewelry pieces that he wanted to look at later, a few magical daggers, and some more battle robes. He also found a few books and he stopped as he found a chest filled with photos and other personal items. He quickly shrunk them and placed them in his pocket, careful to add protection charms now over the pockets.

They then moved on to the Hufflepuff vault, where Harry decided to get some galleons. Teams of goblins stood at the ready, flanking the steel and stone doors to the vault. Engraved on the doors was the Badger of Hufflepuff. A nasty-looking red dragon snorted some smoke, but allowed him entrance. Harry took note that there must have been spells that made the dragon know who could access the vault and who could not. He took about ten thousand galleons and looked around, finding some more books and items, but he decided to just pick up the books for now. He would look at the other items at a later date.

Upon arrival at the Gryffindor, Harry opened his eyes wide as he saw note one dragon, but two! Two very large and very vicious-looking Hungarian Horntails watched him, but also allowed him entrance. The battle goblins stood to attention and bowed slightly. He returned it and thanked them in gobbledegook, eliciting some smiles and more bows.

He felt the magic tugging at his body and he felt right as he placed the key in the lock of the vault. Large mechanisms sprung to life and smaller ones whirred and clinked. Soon, the gate opened, shaking the ground.

A very large mountain range of galleons lay to one side of the enormous vault. On the other side were full sets of steel armor, chain mail, wizard battle robes, staves, swords, shields, boots, gloves, and everything to pretty much equip a small army. On the far side lay fewer items, but they seemed much more expensive and were set on tables with red cloth. There was one thing that actually caught his attention and it was a wand on a pedestal between two of the tables on the far side.

He approached it and grabbed it, yelping when his magic connected with it and he felt a surge of energy rush through him. The wand felt so much better in his hand then his old one did, though he decided to keep both. He found a matching golden holster, charmed to be light and to prevent disarming spells. It even came with protective barriers and spells that activated when the wearer willed it.

Then he saw robes unlike any other. The robes were the deep royal red of the Gryffindor house. It was trimmed in gold thread and had a large roaring golden lion on the back. It shone with unmatched brilliance and was extremely light and relatively soft, but Harry knew it was the battle robe of Godric Gryffindor himself. He knew it. He touched it and he felt a surge of magical energy and he felt connected to Godric, somehow.

He quickly took off his gold robes and replaced it with the robes of Gryffindor, which magically fit snugly to him, showing off his muscles and yet giving him a truly lordly appearance. He scanned it and found that it too had warming charms and also cooling charms. It had over a hundred layers of protective magic and strong battle-robe material that could block a sword blow. It also allowed for greater access to magic and could also 'mask' itself so that no one would see he had it on and instead see some other robe.

Fascinated and awed, he was about to leave, deciding to come back again when his head wasn't spinning like mad, when he saw a lone book that was under the robes of Gryffindor. He took it and nearly dropped it as he read the title.

**_The Diary of Godric Gryffindor_**

He quickly pocketed it, careful in his handling of the precious and one-of-a-kind book. He would have to read it soon, he knew, but not now. Not yet. He did not touch anything else and forced himself out of the vault. He needed some time to think and to get used to what he had just found out that day.

He quickly thanked Griphook and bade thanks to Flameswift through him, before exiting the bank. He teleported as soon as he was sure no one was looking. He had found out a lot more than he bargained for.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Thanks for reviewing. Anyway, the story is focused on these three characters (Harry, Hermione, and Ron) for now, but it will expand later so you'll see everyone later on. Don't worry. Phew, that was one long chapter. :)

_Bertiee_: Thank you for your review. It gladdens me that my story is liked.

_Darknight3030:_ Thanks for answering that question. Hm, well I wasn't really planning on a Menage a trois. I guess I might do that, but then again I'm more of an HHr writer. I was hoping to pair Ron with someone else later in the story. So I'm sorry but I don't think I'll do that.

_Fuzzball2000:_ The Harry Potter Lexicon clearly states that his first name is Shaklebolt (which I have mistakenly spelled, though I'll let it be) and his last Kingsley. Also, the books of JK Rowling have his name the as Shaklebolt Kingsley. Thanks for pointing that out though, I thought I had gotten it wrong though I was sure it was right.

After this, I will no longer directly reply to reviews - apparently it is against FFnet rules to do so in the story. Forgive me, but I did not know until now. I shall reply to reviews through the reply button in the reviews page (which means an email, yes?). Keep reading and reviewing! Thanks.

_Blink_


	8. Raid

**NOTES: Decided to continue the story again.**

_Blink_

**STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am not the owner or creator of Harry Potter.**

* * *

**Chasing a Shadow**

**Raid**

* * *

_Auror Special Forces Headquarters, Ministry of Magic, London..._

The team leaders sat quietly in the large meeting room. No one spoke as they all waited anxiously for Kingsley Shaklebolt to arrive. They were going to raid the safehouse that Harris Earl had found only weeks ago. They had posted watches on the two possible locations that Earl had narrowed down to, but it had taken all this time before they finally got a break and found out which one it was.

Hermione and Ron sat together, both leaders of two seperate teams of six. They were elite Aurors, some had even tried to be Hit Wizards but had been taken out of the program. It was not because they were not good, in fact they were well qualified, but it was because Kingsley had requested them to be put into his program.

The door to the meeting room opened and Kingsley walked in, his robes billowing from the movement. He stopped and turned to look at them all, his expression serious and his lips pursed into a thin line. He clasped his hands behind his back as his gaze swept the room. He nodded.

"Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to conduct our very first raid," he paused, "This will be the first true test of the capabilities of the ASF, and we must do well; not only for the good of the ASF, but also because this raid is of the utmost importance to the Ministry, and possibly, to the world."

He unclasped his hands and started to make motions with them as he continued to talk, "The target is an abandoned factory in Sweden. Our mission is to assault the factory, recover any intelligence material, and capture as many enemies as we can. This new enemy organization is dark and very good at concealing themselves. We have little information on them, except that they are using both muggle and wizarding forces," he walked around a little, "Recovering information is our top priority in this mission. Kill only when you cannot capture them safely."

Hermione looked to Ron, who nodded slowly. They both could feel the adrenaline slowly pumping into their bloodestreams.

"The attack begins in two hours. A storm is going to hit them in about that time, which should give us ample cover in the darkness. We will try to infiltrate the factory silently, but if our cover is blown, you are free to move quickly to capture the facility," Kingsley finished and then asked if there were any questions.

A few minutes later, they were all filing out of the room, but as Hermione and Ron were about to leave, Kingsley motioned for them to stay behind. They looked at each other curiously before they went over to Kingsley.

"You will not be going on this raid," he told them flatly.

They started to protest, but he raised his hands to silence them. "I have another mission for you," he said.

* * *

Hermione and Ron were talking logistics on the way to the portkey rooms. Their new mission would involve another raid, albeit a little smaller, and would be bent on recovering a Ministry asset who was believed to be held there. They were also tasked with recovering any information that could be found at the target location. 

Twelve ASF operatives followed them, carrying packs and other equipment that they would need. They filed into one of the large stone portkey rooms and the heavy steel door banged shut behind them once they were all inside. A basketball lay on a pedestal in the middle of the room, waiting for them to grab on.

The teams had no idea what they were doing, though they could guess, but Hermione and Ron had decided to tell them once they got there. They asked no questions, knowing better than to do so, but Hermione could tell they were very curious.

"Ten seconds to portkey activation," a voice echoed around the room.

"Alright everyone, grab hold!" Hermione said strongly as she reached forward to grab the basketball.

They room started to spin suddenly and before they knew it, they were in an empty warehouse. The air was hot and humid as they cast light spells. This would be their base of operations while they were in Libya and Ron instructed the others to set up.

A few minutes later, magical tents were set up along with a few chairs, and a table, upon which lay a detailed map of Tripoli and the surrounding areas. The nice thing about the map was that they could zoom in and out by tapping it with their wands, which was useful if they wanted to study a specific area more closely.

Once they were set up, they secured the warehouse by making sure there was no one else around. They then proceeded to hide the warehouse and set up wards. They all met up around the table and Hermione and Ron then told them everything they knew.

"A Ministry operative, callsign _Swede_, has gone missing. Her partner, another Ministry operative, callsign _Curly_, was found dead a few weeks ago by the Libyan Ministry of Magic. The report, however, took some time to get through to us because of the nature of their secret operation here in Libya," Ron began, "Eventually, we sent over another operative to try and find out where she was taken and this operative eventually identified the location of where, supposedly, _Swede _is being held."

"We are not raiding tonight," Hermione addressed the team, some of whom reacted negatively to that.

She glared at them to be silent, and they quickly shut up. "We are not going to go in there blindly without further intel on the situation," she told them, "We will go over there and look the place over. Ron and I have agreed that we can raid once we have gathered sufficient information about the area."

Ron nodded, "We need to know how many potential enemies we will be facing. We need to know how to assault the place, the easiest place to enter and leave, the safest way to exfiltrate, and if there are any other enemies stationed around the area to reinforce them."

"We also need to know the extent of their defenses and wards and we have to be careful of collateral damage. The Libyans have given us leave to recover our own operative, but they will not take kindly to us injuring their people and damaging their cities," Hermione spoke.

She then pointed to a bright red circle on the map that lay on the table. With a tap of Hermione's wand, the map zoomed into the circle, which was around the area of the building where _Swede_ was being held. The streets were numerous and narrow, with dozens of alleyways, which would be a nightmare to go through if they were to do so under attack. They could have people posted on the roofs of the buildings or people in alleys waiting.

They set out a plan to reconnoiter the area thoroughly, which they would begin to execute in the early morning. After the timetable was set, they proceeded to turn in for the night as the first two watches were picked. They would be up for another three hours before they were to be relieved.

Hermione spoke to Ron briefly before they both turned in for the night. They had wanted to raid that night, and they felt a little down about not doing so, but they would get their chance soon enough.

* * *

_Minister's Office, Ministry of Magic, London..._

Amelia Bones sighed as she closed the folder of the report she had been reading. Her eyes were bloodshot, having slept little over the past few days. Since the death of Fudge and her appointment to the office, she had worked non-stop to undo many of the damages that Fudge had wreaked upon the Ministry and the magical community.

She had sent apologies to many of the races, especially the goblins and centaurs, for the wrongs done to them by the previous administration. She had set to work to finish the renovations on the Ministry, which had slowed while Fudge was still in office. Amelia had shifted around personnel to help the desperately undermanned departments that needed them.

Fudge had scared away many wizards and witches from applying to work for the Ministry, and they were paying the price for that now. She had authorized the use of aggressive advertisement of open jobs in the Ministry and good incentives so as to bring in more personnel that she so desperately needed.

The true deprecation of the Ministry under Fudge's hand was never fully known to her until the moment she took the office of the Minister of Magic. She now wondered whether or not all her hard work would be able to undo the damages done by the ex-Minister before the darkness struck once again.

The most troubling news to her was the sudden appearance of this new dark organization. Not only did they pose a danger to the seriously weakened Ministry, but also to the whole magical community. She was banking all her hopes on the ASF now, for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, or DMLE, needed all the personnel they could to defend the Ministry, its assets, and the people. The ASF, on the other hand, would handle the Ministry's offensive operations.

The fire to her office suddenly roared as the head of a very old friend and mentor suddenly appeared in the flames.

"Albus, what can I do for you?" she finally spoke up.

"No, Amelia," he replied, "the question is, what can _I_ do for you?"

She considered that question then, though she had already previously thought that Dumbledore would eventually offer his help in any way possible. He would probably call on what little the Order had left to try and support the Ministry, for he knew the extent of the damage that Voldemort and Fudge had both caused a little more than she did. He was also, after all, the most powerful wizard for the light there was. But he was getting old, and so was the Order, so she had some doubts as to whether or not he could really provide help.

"Well, Albus, besides the fact that I am seriously undermanned, there is one thing that I think you can help me on," she said.

"Oh? And that is?"

She told him about the Dark Order.

* * *

_Outside an abandoned factory somewhere in Sweden..._

When the storm hit, it hit hard. The blizzard sent a thick sheet of snow down towards the already snow-packed ground, accompanied by explosive gusts of wind that could have blow the ASF operatives off their feet had it not been for the fact that they were magically protected by passive shields.

The task force trudged through the snow, disillusioned, just in case the Dark Order had people watched closely, even in the blizzard. Their feet fell through the thick, and steadily rising, snow, but the holes left in their wake were quickly covered up.

The ASF was assaulting the factory from all three of its open sides, west, southwest, and south. The other side of the factory was embraced by a large, dark mountain that would have taken too long to go over. Brooms were out of the question here, for they were not trained to fight on them, but Kingsley planned on making the ASF as mobile as possible, and thus they would need to train to fight on brooms some day.

He and fourteen others, for each attack group consisted of two ASF teams, and each team consisted of six operatives plus the leader, kept working their way towards the factory. He did not have time to assemble his own team yet, but he would do that soon enough.

Bright lights emenated from the factory, though the blizzard made the lights indistinct and hazy, making it seem as if the factory was glowing due to the reflection from the snow. He wondered why they would keep all the lights running, but decided that it was probably because there were some muggles soldiers there.

"Hold!" he yelled, though he could barely hear himself through the howl of the wind. He swiped the air with his wand and the wind silenced itself around them.

The group stopped and waited for Kingsley to give his orders.

The factory consisted of three large buildings, two parellel to each other, and one that was perpendicular and to one end of the two. It formed sort of a "U" shape, but they were not connected. The two parallel buildings were the warehouses, within which the heavy equipment and the gist of the factory were held. The lone building was the administration center.

Large chimneys rose up from the two warehouses, spewing for dark smoke that contrasted greatly with the torrent of white snow that came from the sky.

They were on the western flank of the factory, which was laid out perpendicular to their line of attack so that they were coming in from the left of the "U". They would split up upon reaching the westernmost warehouse, one team would infiltrate the warehouse from there, while the other team would swing around the top of the "U" and get to the other warehouse.

One of the other attack groups, coming from the south, and thus headed directly towards the administrative building, was to infiltrate the building. The remaining attack group, bearing in from the southwest, would support the attack on the warehouses from the other side while Kingsley's group attacked from the other, farther, side.

Clenching his jaw, he called to his magic and cast a spell that threw a blast of wind in front of him. The falling snow was blown away, revealing for a moment a clear space in the blizzard, and allowing him to see that there was no one patrolling the outside of the westernmost warehouse. At least none that he could see clearly.

"Check the wards!" he cried.

They all simultaneously sent scanning spells and detection spells towards the factory. Obviously, there were anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards, but there was also an alarm ward and a motion-detector spell that was interwoven into the alarm ward. The fact that the blizzard was not tripping the alarm showed that it was tuned only to big movement, specifically animal or human movement.

He carefully discussed with the team leaders and decided that, depending on who had cast the spell, it was possible to dismantle the alarm ward without breaking the alarm. One of the teams had an operative who was especially skilled at wards, and she was brought forward to work on it.

Kingsley relayed a message through a magical pendant that he and the other leaders held. Through it, they could communicate, just by holding it with a hand they activated the voice-capturing part of the charm that was on the pendants. Otherwise, the pendant allowed anyone who was talking to be heard by the others who were wearing the pendant. It was a great asset, and although there have been no reported limitations to the range yet, Kingsley had a feeling that there was a limit.

* * *

_Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..._

Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore paced slowly around his office. One hand tucked behind his back, the other stroking his long, white beard, he digested the information that Amelia had given to him. He had been aware of the movements of a dark organization of some sort, but he had dismissed the thought as merely some Death Eaters wishing a revival of their previous plans of pure-blooded domination.

He had then ignored most of the news that came his way concerning dark tremors, rumors, and odd events here and there. Perhaps that was not the best choice to make, but it seemed to be the best course of action back when he first heard of these things. After all, why ruin the fragile peace with more talk about dark wizards and evil madmen?

The name of the organization troubled him deeply, because he seemed to recollect hearing the name so many years ago. He frowned as he struggled with his memory. Why did the name sound so familiar?

It was then that he was interrupted by a knock on his door, which startled him. He was deeply entrenched in his thoughts that he had ignored the little warning spell that he had set up to go off whenever the gargoyle was moved. He vaguely remembered feeling the slight buzz of the spell on his body, but he could not tell if it was because he was walking around or because of the spell.

"Come in!" he said, fixing his eyes upon the door as he walked around to sit behind his desk. He already knew who it was, but he was still a little troubled by the fact that he had not noticed the warning. The side effects of old age.

Remus Lupin, one of his most trusted friends and followers, entered the room, closely followed by Arthur Weasley, who, he had heard, was recently promoted to a new, high-ranking position within the DMLE after having been moved from the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. They both looked uneasy, which further troubled the aging headmaster.

"Remus, Arthur," he greeted each with a nod as he said their names, "What may I do for you today?"

"Well, Albus," Arthur began, but then felt unsure of himself and fell silent.

Remus decided to step in then, "Harry is back."

The shock evident on Dumbledore's face was indescribable, but Remus would recall later on that he had never seen so much emotion displayed in so short a time. The silence itself was astounding, for the headmasters that hung in their paintings all around the office, most of whom would cough and make some other noise every now and then, just fell utterly silent. Dumbledore did not know what to say, and neither did Remus and Arthur.

Eventually, the headmaster cleared his thoughts enough to speak, albeit a little warily, "H-How do you know?" he asked.

"Well... much to my surprise, I went to Gringotts today to withdraw some money, and when I opened my vault... well, you know that we're not that particularly well off, although the job is bringing in a lot more than I had hoped for.." Arthur trailed off, but then resumed again after a moment, "You see, Albus, there was a rather large... _mountain_ of money in there. Galleons, sickles, knuts.. whole stacks of them... and then I asked where the money had come from, and well... they were not supposed to tell, but there was only one person who could've done that.."

"I checked Harry's trust fund, since I am, legally, still his guardian and so entitled to know some information... and I found out that his trust fund no longer exists and that it had been emptied out.. today!" Remus exclaimed.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, his mind still numb. It had been years since he had last seen Harry, and he had eventually wondered whether or not he was still alive. To know that he was here, in England, and alive, was just too much, especially with the Dark Order still fresh in his mind.

"Please, sit for a moment," he muttered absentmindedly to the two, who looked at each other, shrugged, and then sat down.

They waited for the old wizard to recollect his thoughts while they too contemplated the implications of Harry's return.

* * *

_Potter Mansion..._

Harry returned to the mansion, his mind still dazed from what he had just learned in the past hour. He did not think that there were vaults involved in Gringotts with regards to his being the heir of Gryffindor. He had known that long ago, but the vault and the title was overwhelming. The fact that he was also the heir of Hufflepuff surprised him greatly, and he had a feeling that Dumbledore had known all along.

He wondered what good hiding his heritage could possibly do, but he decided not to dwell on it because he felt his anger rising again. He might do something he would regret if he was clouded with too much emotion.

"Dobby!" he called the elf, who quickly appeared next to him with a pop, "Could you please bring that journal of yours over to my study? And some snacks and juice while you're at it."

Dobby agreed and popped away to do his bidding as Harry headed for his study. There were a dozen studies in the mansion, but he had chosen one specifically for its view of the beautiful grounds of the mansion. It also had the biggest windows and was the biggest study of them all.

He ascended one of the four staircases of the mansion, and just as he was about to turn to head for the study, which was on the second floor, he came face-to-face with Henry's portrait.

"Harry, my boy!" he cried enthusiastically, "How was the trip?"

"Very revealing."

"What's wrong?"

Harry shook his head, "Nothing really, except for the fact that I am Hufflepuff's and Gryffindor's heir.."

"Hufflepuff??" Henry asked in confusion, which further suprised Harry.

"You mean to say... you never knew?"

"Never!" replied the portrait, scratching his head, "But then again, heirs are determined by age, and so it must be that during our time there was someone older than us who was the heir of Hufflepuff. It just so happens that you are the eldest in the current surviving line of Hufflepuff."

Harry threw his hands up in the air and walked around the portrait, resuming his walk to the study. "Just my luck," he spoke bitterly, "Fate is again giving me things I never asked for, and never would have, and fate expects me to use these gifts and abilities to fight evil."

Henry followed after him but remained silent, letting the young man vent a little.

"Why am I the only one?" he asked, still bitter.

The old man in the portrait could not feel as much emotion as an actual person, but to the extent that he was able to, he felt pity and sorrow for the young man that walked before him. He just wished he could help him in some way, but being a portrait, that would be difficult.

"I am alone," he whispered, stopping abruptly before the door of the study, one hand on the handle.

"No, you are not, Harry James Potter," the firm voice of Henry replied from behind him, "You have friends, Harry, powerful and loyal friends. You have allies, some that you may not know about until much later, and most of all, the world will be fighting with you. You are defending them, Harry, and they will help you defend them from the darkness. You are _not _alone!"

Harry turned, a lone tear slowly rolling down his cheek. His cold, hard, emerald eyes softening a little as he regarded the man in the portrait, who was staring back at him. The young man nodded, but said nothing, as he stepped into the study, carefully closing the door behind him and shutting himself from the world.

Henry's portrait floated for a moment in front of the door as he contemplated whether or not to try to talk to him again. He decided against it. It would be better for Harry to vent a little and think through on his own. He needed some time alone, and he would respect that.

* * *

_Five minutes later, just outside the abandoned factory, somewhere in Sweden..._

Kingsley swung his arm back and then forward, as if to propel them to the warehouse by flinging them, catapult style, with his hand.

They broke into a run, but were still seriously impeded by the thick snow. That was when Kingsley finally felt the anti-apparition ward settle on him. They could not break down that ward because then everyone in the factory would feel the ward and they would all apparate away, or at least would be notified of the ASF's presence.

Surprise was an advantage in this situation, especially since they wanted to capture as many enemies as possible so as to glean information from these prisoners later on.

They were silent, saying nothing as they neared the western wall of the westernmost warehouse.

Fifty feet, thirty-five, twenty, ten feet...

Kingsley and the other operatives gathered around near the wall. Kingsley ordered them to split up and they moved quickly and silently to do their tasks.

Kingsley's team was the one tasked with swinging around to attack the warehouse on the other side. When they reached the far end of the first warehouse, he told the rest of the team to stop as he took a peak around the corner. They were still disillusioned, but it was only a matter of time before they were spotted and they would have to cancel their disillusionments else face possible friendly fire.

He saw two dark figures, vaguely, walking in the blizzard. They seemed unfazed by the storm, judging by the way they were walking, and he assumed they were wizards. He saw that the wizards' backs were facing him, so he took a chance and used the wind spell he had cast earlier to clear the area for a little bit so that he could see a little clearer.

He saw that two men were on the roof of the other warehouse, which meant that there were probably two up above them now. They were carrying muggle weapons with them, which meant they were most probably muggles themselves.

He hated the fact that he had to think about muggle enemies now, not that the muggles he had gone against were any problem, but these muggles seemed better than most. They were professionally trained, the best of the best, and so they were that much harder to kill, even with magic.

He called to the team and told them of what he saw. The factory had a courtyard in the middle of it, the middle of the "U", and so there might be other enemies there too.

Kingsley told one of the operatives, a small man named Jacob, to scout out the courtyard. His small stature, for he stood two inches shy of six feet, would allow for him to sneak by a little more unnoticed than the others. Jacob also specialized in stealth infiltration, according to the file that he had read, and so was perfect for the task. Not that the others could not handle stealthy missions, it was just that he was the best candidate out of all of them.

He watched the slightly shimmering figure of Jacob move through the snow and around the corner, carefully watching the two wizards that were patrolling the area close to them. They glanced over his way every now and then, but his disillusionment charm was working and they had not seen him.

"What is it you think they are making in there, commandeur?" the team's regular leader, Anton, asked in a slight French accent. He was a big man, taller than Kingsley by about an inch, and heavier than the ASF commander - that was his official title.

"I don't know, Anton, I don't know." Kingsley thought about it for a moment, but he really had no clue what they could be making in here that was important to this Dark Order. Whatever it was, they would be able to gather information on the Dark Order and hinder, however slightly, their operations by taking out the factory.

Just then, Jacob came back, his still invisible form momentarily surprising Kingsley, who had not been paying attention. They gathered in close to listen to his report.

"There are four more men, wizards I think, in the courtyard and, from what I saw, one man just inside of the door that leads to the administrative building from the courtyard. I think he is a muggle, but I am not sure."

Kingsley nodded, though he doubted that they saw him do so, "Okay, here's the plan. We get in as close as possible without detection and stun the six out here on the ground. You four," he pointed to four of the operatives, including Anton, "will take out the four in the middle of the courtyard."

Two other operatives would take out the first two wizards and then Kingsley and the last remaining operative, Jacob, would take out the muggles on top of the far warehouse. Anton and his three other men would then take out two muggles, who Kingsley assumed would also be patrolling the top of the warehouse, from the middle of the courtyard.

They all acknowledged the plan and in seconds they moved into action. Kingsley gave enough time for Anton and his men to get closer before letting the two other operatives get close to their targets. Flashes of red later, all six were down, quickly followed by two carefully aimed shots at the two muggles on the far warehouse, who were taken out by stunners as well.

After the two on the first warehouse were taken care of, they met up near one of the entrances to the far warehouse.

So far so good, everything was going to plan. Kingsley grabbed his pendant and asked for sitreps from the other two groups, both of whom said that all was well. They had taken out guards in their areas and were infiltrating their respective buildings.

Kingsley felt very strange. Everything was going too well, something wasn't right.

But what?

* * *

_Potter Mansion..._

Harry flipped through most of the normal stuff. There were bombings, shootings, fires, a small earthquake, flooding, storms, and other natural events. He did note that there were some odd things that Dobby managed to get a hold of. There were bombings of government buildings here and there, some prominent banks were robbed, some failing companies suddenly seemed to have astounding success, and some unsolved murders and assassinations of prominent government and corporate officials all over Europe.

There was something about some of the things he had taken out of the journal that did not make sense. Harry had this gut feeling that they were connected, perhaps through the Dark Order. He would have to check the Guide, the name he had given to the book that knew a lot more than he did and also had told him to do things that were very benificial.

He was still unsure as to who had sent the book, but he would eventually find out. Somehow. He pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

Harry needed to think on the present first. He had to connect the pieces, fill in the blanks, and put together another plan on saving the world. But then a question surfaced on his mind that troubled him greatly.

Should he ask for help?

Sure, he was stronger, faster, smarter, and more knowledgeable, but in the end, he was still only one man. One wizard, who was supposed to make a difference, but how much of a difference could he make if he stood alone?

His mind churned that question, trying to find an answer, but he was unsure. He had worked with others in the last war, with friends and allies, but every loss was a blow to him. Every death, every injury, he blamed on himself. It was something that could have been avoided had he been doing it all on his own.

The long, sleepless nights that had kept him awake all those years ago came back to the surface. The faces of all those who had died because of his inability to protect them all, because of his weakness.

Harry shook his head, chastising himself for suddenly thinking that way. What was he thinking? They had helped him, they had wanted to help him, and they had known the risks. They knew the consequences of what they were doing, and yet they still did it, not only because they wanted to help him, but because they wanted to help protect themselves and their families.

To them, dying was no problem, as long as they died for a better tomorrow. As long as their sacrifice was for something, that their sacrifice would eventually help destroy the darkness that had threatened to consume them all. Harry still had not come to terms with that fact.

Even throughout his journeys, all through the years, he kept a little piece of the nightmares that had plagued him during the war. All the faces of the dead. Friends and unfamiliar faces haunted him, tortured him, in the safety of his own bed. Yet what had he done to stop them? Nothing. He welcomed the nightmares with open arms.

It was his penance. The punishment he had to pay for not being fast enough to help a friend who had fallen, for not being smart enough to see that there was another group of Death Eaters lying in wait during an attack, for not being strong enough to fight Voldemort sooner and end the war faster.

He looked out the window of his study, the sun shining high overhead, as if to mock him. The trees were swaying in the breeze, the grass bright green, and the sky wondrously clear. Perhaps it was a sign of how things would turn out, but then again Harry never really believed in those things.

He sighed, clearing his thoughts once more. He would ask the opinion of the others later, knowing that he was in way too deep, and even with all his experience, he would need help. Pausing for a moment to consider what he had just thought, about asking for help from the portraits on the matter, made him see that maybe, just maybe, he would need help in this war after all.

* * *

_Dark Order factory, somewhere in Sweden..._

Kingsley ducked as bullets thudded into the concrete wall behind him. The muggles were proving to be more of a nuisance than he thought. There were few remaining dark wizards in the warehouse now, but those who were still alive were putting up a strong fight. They too were trained well.

"Second floor catwalk!" yelled one of the operatives on Kingsley's team.

Another operative responded to the call by blasting the catwalk with an explosive spell, sending shards of metal ripping into machinery and concrete. Thick smoke enveloped the middle of the warehouse, where one of the chimneys had broken and one of the large machines had exploded.

They were creating weapons here, muggle weapons, but not only guns, swords and armor too. At least in this warehouse they were, Kingsley was still unsure of what the other warehouse was making, since he had a feeling they were making different things. The other group there had no idea, and had not time to look, because they were hard-pressed to fight off the Dark Order members that were in there.

"Ah!" cried one of the operatives, falling to his side and clutching at his thigh. A bullet had ricocheted off a metal pipe and had embedded itself into the witch, who gasped in pain but remained calm.

Jacob sprinted towards the fallen witch, whose name was Helen, and quickly removed the bullet and healed the wound with a few waves of his wand. He helped her up and they were back in the fight.

There were about four, maybe five, enemies left in the warehouse. They were forced to kill three, but managed to subdue two earlier in the fighting. Now Kingsley was on the brink of ordering a mass assault on their fixed positions because they were only muggle soldiers left, save for one lone wizard who was keeping two operatives at bay with sporadic curses.

Kingsley motioned for Jacob to flank the wizard to the left while Kingsley moved in from the right. At his signal, the two operatives that were pinned down returned the favor by sending a barrage of spells and curses back at the wizard. The man's shields were strong and held firm while the other spells impacted on the thick steel machine that he was half hiding behind.

He yelled obscenities at them and taunted them, making Kingsley shake his head and smile for in a flash, he and Jacob had sent stunning spells at the wizard, but the angle at which they had sent them made the man's body spin in the air and Kingsley heard a faint cracking sound.

He winced, hoping that he hadn't broken the man's neck, not that he really cared, but he could still hold some information that would be useful. With that last wizard down, Kingsley gave the order to storm the muggles who were holed up on the second floor.

They had lost one operative, Bill Grimmauldie, during the initial firefight. Multiple bullet wounds and a curse that blasted off his left arm and shoulder had brought him down. Anton had promised revenge on behalf of his fallen teammate and had made good on his promise by stunning two enemies and killing one.

In a matter of minutes, the muggles who were left were mostly dead, save one who managed to survive the sudden ferocious attack. Kingsley felt good about that. The muggles were still a little inferior to them, at least from what he had seen.

"Lion and Fox groups, what's your status?" he asked, using the pendant.

"Lion group is having difficulty in the first warehouse, sir. Lost two operatives already and encountering heavy resistance. The large machinery here and the tight spaces are making it difficult to advance. Need support."

"Fox group has control of the administration building, no losses. Sending over support to Lion group," said Queren, leader of Fox group. He was a tall, thin, but lean man. Queren was sharp, a great tactician, and was also a tough fighter.

"Good job Fox group, send some operatives to gather up all the prisoners in the courtyard, that'll be our rally point before we extract," he called over the pendant-line. He smiled at that, he would have to find a name for their communications system. "I'll call in for the cavalry once we have warehouse one under control."

Kingsley told his men to gather all the unconscious enemy troops and instructed them to bring the men to the middle of the courtyard. He nodded to Anton and then left to go outside while they finished up inside.

He set up a barrier around the middle of the courtyard so that no snow or wind could penetrate it. He stepped into the barrier and the sudden change in his surroundings disoriented him for a moment. There was still snow falling heavily all around, but it was not going into the bubble.

He proceeded to round up those who were still unconscious outside. He saw that there was an operative up on the roof of the second warehouse, levitating the two muggles up there down to the ground. Another operative had taken up a position outside and was moving all the bodies to the rally point that he had created.

"We have control of warehouse one!" a voice yelled triumphantly into his ear, making him jump a little. He would have to get used to that.

"Good job everyone, get packed up and good to go, I'll call in the DMLE for extra support to sweep the area once we're done collecting our prisoners. They can look for any hard evidence over the wreckage, our work here is done," he told them, sighing with relief as he took out a small orb from his pocket.

It quickly enlarged itself to the size of a basketball, but it was weightless so he did not notice it much. Tapping the ball with his wand, thick green smoke circled around inside of it before a face appeared. It was Edward Jones, head of the DMLE.

"Kingsley? How'd the raid go?" he asked seriously, a little worry on his face.

"Good, minimal losses. We could use some help right about now, if you could spare some. I need a little more manpower to comb the place and my men need rest after a hard days work," he said, smiling.

Ed nodded, cracking a grin too, "I'll send a sweep team over. Is it open to apparition or portkey?"

"Just about to open her up."

"Good, they'll be there in no time then. Hang tight."

Kingsley thanked him and then tapped the orb with his hand. It floated up in the air and started to glow orange. A wave of orange light suddenly exploded outward from it, showing that it had destroyed the anti-apparition ward. The orb then turned blue, signaling that it was acting as a homing beacon that could be traced by the Ministry's portkey creators.

Within five minutes, the DMLE sweep team had arrived. Twenty-five aurors that were trained in sweeping any place for files, clues, and any information. They would also document the location for future reference with photos and reports. Kingsley assigned Fox group to assist them, since they had no losses, and sent Lion back to ASF HQ to rest and heal.

His own group he sent, along with the prisoners, to the special prison that was constructed specifically for the use of the ASF. It was an underground facility under heavy wards and protective spells, in addition to the fidelius charm. Only those that were told by Kingsley of its whereabouts would know where it was and would be able to see it.

They had captured a total of twenty-two Dark Order soldiers, a great feat considering that it was the first true test of the ASF. They pulled through almost immaculately, losing only four operatives.

The leader of the sweep team and Queren, Fox group's leader, came over to him.

"Sweep in progress?" he asked the sweep team leader, who gave the affirmative, however obvious the answer was. "Good. Queren, I want you to stay and support the sweep team until they pull out of here. Once you're done here, I want you to destroy the place."

"Destroy it, sir?" asked the sweep leader.

Kingsley nodded, "Wipe it off the map. They won't be needing it, and we won't either."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** It's been a while. 


End file.
